


Little Bird

by curiouserncuriouser



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blindfolds, Bucky Barnes Feels, Bucky is a little shit, Canon-Typical Violence, Dom Bucky Barnes, Domestic Avengers, Drama, Drama & Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Light Bondage, Light Dom/sub, Love Triangles, Missions, Not Canon Compliant, Polyamory, Protective Steve Rogers, Romance, Shameless Smut, Slow Burn, Smut, Steve Rogers Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers uses The Captain Voice, Superpowers, Threesome - F/M/M, bossy bucky, sharing is caring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-12
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:47:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 42
Words: 100,475
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24137593
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouserncuriouser/pseuds/curiouserncuriouser
Summary: She's spent her whole life on the move. As a child, she went from foster home to foster home. As an adult, there was always somebody after her abilities. But after a tall, blond Captain found her, she would have to get used to staying in one place. And living with The Avengers.Note: The violence in the series isn't extremely graphic, but I put the warning up for tender souls, just in case! Also, the smut doesn't come in 'til chapter 12, so be a little patient for that E rating (or just skip ahead, you do you).
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Original Female Character(s), James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s), Steve Rogers/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 476
Kudos: 268





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This work is not part of a series, but it is somewhat related to a series I've written called "The Songbird". The OFC from this story is one I came up with because "The Songbird" is based on the actors, and I wanted a new character to fit in the MCU. I came up with a character that turned out to be similar to the character The Songbird from Marvel comics, but she's not exactly the same, so in this her name is Wren, and I'm not sticking to canon about her. This doesn't fit in any particular space in the MCU timeline, like many other works, it's in a nebulous "everyone's at the compound getting snuggly together" point in time.

She knew she was being followed. All week, she could feel eyes on her. She wanted to tell herself she was just being paranoid, it was a figment of her imagination. She’d spent so much of her life running, it was just inevitable that her feet would get itchy: she’d stayed in one spot too long, this was just the instinct to get out manifesting.

But then…she noticed the guy in the baseball cap. It would’ve been funny if the circumstances were different. He seemed to think that he could hide in plain sight if he simply wore a hat, and dark sunglasses. Like people wouldn’t notice a tall, huge, chiseled dude who seemed to always walk with a look of determination. People parted around him like the Red Sea, how did he think he was going to sneak up on her? Also, he talked to himself an awful lot for someone who looked like he wasn’t living rough. It meant he was probably using comms to talk to other teammates that were better at subtlety.

The big guy looked familiar, but she couldn’t put a finger on it. Maybe he was an agent who had tried coming after her before? She’d crossed a few organizations in her day, she couldn’t keep track. He looked American, most likely, not Mossad or something. She supposed he could be European, that blond hair, maybe German, but there was just something about the body language that screamed “America!”

She decided she was done playing games. On his terms, anyway. This afternoon, she went into a café she had chosen very specifically. It had two easy entry/exit points, and not very many windows to see the main area. It meant that it would be a great place to ditch a tail, but she had other things in mind. She went in, and looked at the chalkboard menu for far longer than she needed to. When she saw the American come in, she nonchalantly got into line, put in an order, loudly saying in English she would drink it here. She watched them making her things, and then before they called her name, she grabbed the bathroom key and went to the bathroom. She waited for a few orders to be called, and then when the barista called “Steve,” the first American-sounding male name she’d heard, she washed her hands and came out. She went to find her drink at the counter, making sure he saw that she was still there, but going slowly enough that he would have to go sit at a table, otherwise it would stand out that he was not sitting. He tried to linger like he was looking for a table, but it was a silly pretense, as there was an open table right in front of them, and very few options elsewhere.

He looked at it, conflicted. He stepped back and looked at her, stumbling out a “ _Apr_ _ès-vous_ …miss.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, “Oh, honey, maybe skip the French. I’m American, too, we can share a table if you don’t mind?”

“I couldn’t intrude,” he tried to counter shyly.

“It’s no trouble. If you want privacy, I can leave you be. But someone else will take the table if we don’t,” She tried to play it off as an innocent interaction between strangers in a café, who happened to hail from the same country. As if she wasn’t his prey.

“Well, I suppose if you put it that way…” he stepped forward, and she assumed he was pulling out a chair for himself, but he continued to stand behind it. She realized he was holding it for her.

She didn’t think she’d ever had a man do that for her, certainly not a stranger in a café. Huh. She briefly wondered what his story was. “So…I assume you’re here to see the sights? Not a lot else out here.”

“Yeah, just playing tourist for a few days. You?”

“Yeah, I’ve been staying here a while, but I think I’ve seen all there is to see. Probably moving on soon. You sure look familiar, where are you from?”

“Brooklyn.”

“Hmm, well, that’s probably not it.”

“Just one of those faces, I suppose.”

“I suppose.” She let it hang there, and let an uncomfortable silence fall. It was hard for people not to fill uncomfortable silences. She could use her powers to try to get him to talk, but that could get messy in a public place, it was too hard to control with so many people around. So she tried to give him enough rope to hang himself.

He finally broke the silence, “Where are you from?”

“All around. Kind of an American nomad,” it was true, if not particularly informative. “So where else are your travels taking you?”

“Well, hopefully home to the States after this.”

“Short sightseeing trip?”

“Something like that,” he shrugged his massive shoulders.

It was hard not to think about his shoulders. His shoulders were so broad and his hips so narrow, it seemed impossible. How did he not just…tip over? She hadn’t gotten much of a look at his ass, though, he was usually behind her. She let another silence fall while she contemplated his ass. Mr Strong-Silent-Type could stew in it, and she could enjoy some time sexualizing her opponent.

“So, uh…what do you do? For a living?” he managed. Whoever had trained him must have skipped over the lesson where they tell you what to do if you actually have to talk to an asset.

“Odd jobs, mostly. You?”

He really walked into that one, and looked like he had to think about it for a second, “Private security.”

“Well, that sounds ominous!” she laughed at him again. Was he even trying? She tried to give him an easy out, “Well, I imagine if I ask any more you’ll have to kill me. So…you were correct in saying ‘ _apr_ _ès-vous_ ,’but the accent and the ‘miss’ were terrible.”

He finally smiled, “Sorry about that. I didn’t know if I should say _madame_ or _mademoiselle_ , so I kind of…”

“Defaulted? It’s fine. If you don’t know if a woman is married or not, and she’s not, like, college-aged, you can stick with _madame_ , as it is generally a more polite assumption that a woman of a certain age is married. _Mademoiselle_ can work if you want to make her feel young or if you just want to run under the assumption that she’s single, like you’re flirting. But,” she held up her left hand, “ _Mademoiselle_ would be more accurate for me.”

He smiled a little and tried to hide it with a sip of his coffee. “Well thank you for the French lesson.”

“You’re probably better off sticking with English and relying on good looks, anyway. The cap is a dead giveaway that you’re not French.” She pushed her chair back, stood, and abruptly said, “Thanks for the chat, enjoy your travels!” and walked out the opposite door from the one she’d came in through. She hadn’t actually finished her drink but she hadn’t really wanted it in the first place, and getting out of there was more important.

She realized after they were sitting down and she was considering his physique: That was Steve Rogers. Captain fucking America. And she was in deeper shit than she knew.


	2. Chapter 2

After she finished her final deliveries for the day, she headed back to her car. She thought she’d lost him a while ago, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t have been staking out her car from an unseen perch. Seemed prudent to drive around for a while, trying to keep watch for any cars that looked like they were following her, before heading home. She had rented a small cottage outside of town, it was pretty secluded, no neighbors nearby, and in the countryside, it made it easy to see and hear any approaching cars. Nothing seemed out of place, so she grabbed her bags from the trunk and went into the small stone structure. She flipped the lights on in the kitchen, and immediately dropped her bags: there, sitting at her table in the full super-suit, was Captain America.

She wanted to just swear in surprise, but she felt her body assume a stance. There were two possible reasons he’d spent the whole week following her, and she didn’t like either of them.

“Sorry,” he started, standing, “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You didn’t mean to scare me while you hid in my dark kitchen, waiting for me to come home?”

“Well, when you put it that way…sorry. I guess it couldn’t be helped. But I’m not here to attack you. You’re safe,” he was holding his hand up like she was some sort of deadly animal he was trying to calm down. Well, he wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Why should I believe you?” she held her stance. “I’m not inclined to trust men who break into my house.”

“That’s a good instinct. But, Wren: I’m not here to hurt you, I’m here to recruit you. Sit down, please.”

“If you’re just here to recruit me, why are you in the suit? That seems like you want a fight.”

He grinned a little under the cowl, “Fair point. I just wanted it to be clear who I am, in case…”

“In case I hadn’t already realized Captain America has been stalking me all week? If I hadn’t noticed, would you really want me in your little club?”

His smile broadened, “Another fair point. Here,” he pulled the cowl off. She tried not to think about how cute his hair looked when it was messy. “Does that make it any more casual?”

“A little bit,” she resisted the impulse to suggest he ditched the entire outfit. “Could you…turn around a little bit? I didn’t see any holsters, but…”

“I get it, better safe than sorry,” he stood, hands over his head, and spun slowly.

His ass was spectacular. That hadn’t been why she’d asked him to spin, it was just a benefit that she could resolve her question from earlier. The suit didn’t hide much. “Thanks,” she continued. “That helps. I mean, you could still kill me with your bare hands, but I can’t very easily ask you to take those off and put them on the table.”

“Well, thanks for not asking. So. I imagine you’re wondering what I’m doing here.”

“Well, you said you were recruiting me.”

That caught him off guard, he must be doing his speech out of order or something. “Oh, I guess I did. Uh…well, I’m sure you know who the Avengers are. We’ve been tracking people with exceptional…talents. People like you. We know about your…vocal abilities. We would like to know more.”

Did he practice that speech at all? “Sorry…is _that_ the recruitment speech? You remind me who the Avengers are and point out that you know my secrets and you want to audition me? That’s all?”

He looked a little flustered, “Well, normally the speech is a little longer. But you know who I am. You know who the Avengers are. Is there something else you want to know?”

“Why now?”

“Well, like I said, we’ve been tracking you for a while. And it seems like your powers are…growing.”

This was true, but she wasn’t sure how the Avengers would know that. She tried hard not to use them at all, and when she did she tried to be careful about it. Did they have a spy satellite trained on her house or something? “And why do I have to audition?”

“Well, it’s not that you have to audition. We have great faith in your abilities, and that you could be an asset to the team. I’m here to understand how your control over your powers works, and to get a better sense of you as a person.”

“Make sure I’m not a psycho who needs to be muzzled?”

A pained look flashed across his eyes briefly, “We have no intention of muzzling anyone. You haven’t done anything wrong, we wouldn’t lock you up for being different. But if you don’t have what it takes to work as part of a team, or you don’t have it in you to do what’s right in a tough situation, then you can go back to your life.”

“But you’d still monitor me, wouldn’t you? Just in case?”

He looked at her thoughtfully for a second, before saying “Yes. I can’t just ignore someone so…I mean _we_ can’t…”

“I get it. Okay. What if I just am not interested?”

“Same as if we weren’t interested. We’ll keep an eye on you, but we’ll leave you alone.”

She mulled this over for a long moment, before her stomach growled. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to put a dramatic pause on the conversation, but I’m starving. Are you hungry? Do you want dinner?”

“Well, I mean, I…”

“I’ll take that as a yes. I’ve got some leftover cassoulet, that’s like a bean stew, and some salad and bread and stuff. Sound okay?”

“I couldn’t impose, miss.”

“I think this is going to be an awful long conversation, so unless you helped yourself before I got here…”

“No, I didn’t. Thank you, that’s very kind.”

She bustled about, heating up the stew and getting everything else together. He offered to help, but there wasn’t much for him to do, so once she’d mixed up the dressing in the cruet she passed it to him to shake. When the table was set, they settled in to discuss some of the aspects of what being an Avenger actually meant. Where they lived, what the day-to-day life was like, how operations worked, things like that. She wondered how wise it was for him to tell her all of this, but he was easy to talk to, and putting food into him brought out a kind of boyishness that was hard not to find charming. He asked her questions, too. He clearly knew everything about her past, she didn’t need to recount her resume or anything. He asked specific, pointed questions about incidents she’d been involved in. It was a fairly extensive list.

When they had finished their dinner, they’d also mostly exhausted their questions. Steve put down his napkin and sat back, “Well, I guess all that’s left is trying to understand your abilities better. Both natural and…preternatural.”

“That’s a delicate way of putting it. Okay, what did you have in mind?”

“Well, we know that you can use your voice mostly effects the human mind and body. We don’t know exactly how it works, though.”

“Um…basically, if I sing I can…make things happen. It’s linked to the notes I sing. Do you know music?”

“No. I mean, I like listening to it, but…”

“Okay, I won’t get too technical. I can sing one note that will make people go to sleep. Another that will give people a splitting headache. Another that will cause nausea. I’m sure there are other effects, but I haven’t really explored them fully. I have some control over it, it doesn’t happen every time I sing, it’s something voluntary I put in, like a special vibrato or something. And I can control how loud I sing and for how long, obviously, that can change the impact. But, like I said, it’s not like I’ve experimented. It’s too dangerous for me to use it in anything but the biggest emergency, and it’s not like I can say ‘excuse me, potential murderer, do you mind holding still while I see if I can kill you with my voice? And please: take notes on what you experience so I can better understand the nuances of how I hurt you.’”

He grinned at her explanation, at her humor in the face of challenges. She had spent a long time trying to evade detection, so explaining things now couldn’t be easy on her, especially when she didn’t have a full understanding. “That’s fine, we can help you learn more about it. Could I see it in action?”

“You…you want me to use it on you? Steve, I don’t know about this…”

He smirked, “I’m pretty tough, I think I can handle it. And don’t be embarrassed if it doesn’t work on me, we know it works just fine on normal humans.”

She was a little offended by this. He didn’t expect to work on him? Fine, Mr Super-Soldier, get ready to be embarrassed. “Okay, if you say so.” She stood and picked up her plate, explaining, “There are different effects it can have, depending on what I sing. For example, Steve, are you sleepy right now?”

“Nope. Wide awake. That coffee from earlier…” he stopped mid-sentence as she sang a note and he immediately fell asleep, with her moving his bowl away just in time for his head to unceremoniously hit the table.

When he awoke with a start, the table had been cleared of the dinner items, and there was a bottle of wine and a chocolate torte on the table. From her seat, Wren said, “You’ve only been out for about 15 minutes. If you were a normal person, the way I did it probably would have knocked you out for about a half hour. If I held it longer it would have lasted longer, but I don’t know if there’s a limit.”

He blinked, still looking around the room. “Well that was unexpected. I think Tony owes Bruce twenty bucks.”

“You were _betting_ on me?”

“Well, _I_ wasn’t. But there was a lot of debate amongst the scientists about how your powers work, and if they’d work on me.”

“Well, glad I could solve that riddle. Is there anything else you want to know?”

“We need to see how you do in a fight.”

“Well, I generally prefer to avoid fights.”

“That won’t work if you’re going to be an Avenger. We’re usually what happens when the fight can’t be avoided. But we don’t have to do that right now, it’s dark out. Do you work tomorrow?”

“Nope.”

“I can come back early, we can spar first thing?”

“Ugh, I hate waking up early, but fine. Where are you staying?”

“In town, at a hotel.”

“You can stay here.”

He actually blushed a little, “Miss, I really couldn’t…”

“What a boy scout! This place is bigger than it looks, it has a spare bedroom. I assume you have transportation hidden somewhere on the property, with at least a bug-out bag that includes a change of clothes and a toothbrush?”

“That would be correct.”

“Well, grab your stuff and help me with this wine and chocolate. I’ll get your bed ready,” she said. He didn’t argue, just gave her a little smile and a nod as he stood.

When he came back to the house, she had re-settled in the sitting area, cake and wine on the coffee table and book in hand. She instructed him where he would be sleeping for the night, and where the bathroom was, and he went back to settle in and change.

When he came back out, there was a slice of cake and a full glass of red wine in front of an empty spot on the couch, so he smiled and took a bite and a sip as she launched in, “Okay, real talk: is the suit comfortable? Because it doesn’t look comfortable.”

“It’s more comfortable than the original. Tony is a proponent of comfort and style, and the tech he uses…well, I can’t pretend I understand all of it.”

“Would he…uh…I don’t really know how to ask this. Would I be… _studied_?”

“What do you mean?”

She sighed, “I guess I just want assurances that I would be joining the Avengers as a member and not an…experiment.”

He looked her over, “You wouldn’t be an experiment. Our members have had enough of being poked and prodded against their will. We have scientists and engineers, both on the team and working with and for us, and I admit: they will want to have a better understanding of how your powers work. But they would never do anything without your consent. And it would only be to help you. If they can understand your powers, they can make you tools to strengthen them or make the best use of them. They can also understand the weaknesses and limitations of your powers.”

“To be able to counter or disable me?”

“And to make it so others can’t. And I’ll be there to make sure you have other options in a fight.”

She chewed her lip a little, mulling it over. “Well, I think you’ve answered all the questions I have. Thank you for being patient. Are new recruits normally like this?”

He cracked a smile, “Normally not quite so many questions. But it’s good, it shows you’re taking it seriously.”

“I guess I have a few more questions…tomorrow, is the sparring like an audition?”

“No, more of an assessment. We know you have some martial arts training. And if you join us, we need to be sure you’re trained up to be able to fight, in case you can’t use your powers for some reason. We have training facilities at the compound, and plenty of willing teachers, we can train you in pretty much anything. I just need an idea of what you’re capable of.”

“So they pit me against a giant super soldier? Is that why they sent _you_?”

His smile was unreadable, and he looked like he maybe blushed a little, “No, I chose this mission for myself. I just thought it would be…interesting.”

“ _Interesting_?”

“I mean…we don’t do a lot of active recruitment. Pretty much everyone we have on the team we kind of…were thrown together. And you seemed like a very good fit. But the profile said you might be a little…skittish, we didn’t want to take a whole team. So…I volunteered.”

There was something about the way he was looking at her that made her wonder if it was purely professional interest.

“So…am I in? If tomorrow is an assessment, not an audition?”

He smiled, and for the first time it was a broad smile, not just his little half-smirk, “Yeah, you were in before I came all the way out here. Are you saying _you_ want in?”

“Yeah, I think I do!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments/kudos/etc are always so appreciated! And this one is going to be a bit of a slow burn, what can I say, I like to build some angst before things get smutty, it's more fun that way! But this is going to get smutty AF, so stick around, folks!


	3. Chapter 3

Steve realized pretty shortly after he arrived in Carcassonne that he’d made a mistake. When Wren’s file came across his desk, it interested him. _She_ interested him. Obviously she was beautiful, but more than that, he just wanted to know her story. All the scrapes she’d gotten in spoke to someone who cared very much about doing the right thing. She’d started with busting a human trafficking ring as a teenager, and his whole body clenched up at the thought of how a 14-year-old could find herself in that situation. Her other adventures were of a similar ilk: she may not have been fighting off alien invaders, but she was helping to save the world.

She’d come from a rough background, but she’d made the most of it. She’d moved around all her life, from foster home to foster home as a child, and then seemingly randomly as an adult. She’d gotten an education despite everything she’d been up against, she knew multiple languages and seemed to pick up enough of new languages to pass easily, which meant her moves had been all over the world. And she had picked up fighting styles wherever she went, it looked like it started as basic karate from a foster family, through to bits of muay Thai and Krav Maga more recently. He doubted she’d trained enough in any of them to become any sort of expert, but she was likely safe walking through dark alleys in strange cities.

But all of that was just what was in the file. It was interesting, but ultimately two-dimensional. When he got to Carcassonne, he saw the third dimension start to take shape, and that was where the trouble was. She was engaged as some sort of courier, the file was vague as to what. Mostly it seemed like she just zipped around on a bike delivering random things: flowers, messages, pizzas, you name it. But watching her interact with people opened up more about her. He saw her flirt benevolently with an old man as she helped him with his groceries. Watched her joyously distract some kids while a young mother finished her chores. He didn’t speak much French, so he didn’t know exactly what words were exchanged, but it seemed like she was doing these things without being asked, just seeing a need and filling it. He also saw her decisively and clearly reject a man who tried to get fresh when she delivered his pizza. Steve found himself starting to move, about to blow his cover, when he realized she’d already saved herself: she had the man’s wrist in a grip that, from his movements and objections, looked painful. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling as she skipped away from the man’s door, seemingly unaffected.

Originally, he’d only planned to spend two, maybe three days doing recon. The goal was to bring her in no matter what, but to make sure it was willing on her part. He had no reason to believe she wouldn’t be willing, but she’d also spent most of her life trying to lay low, and moving on when she couldn’t, so it was possible that the visibility and accountability of being an Avenger would be too much. That was what the recon was supposed to be for, to give him time to see how easily she spooked, and how low-profile she was being. It didn’t explain why he’d already spent 5 days on the recon.

So on the sixth day, he was mentally preparing himself to talk to her. This part of him still lingered from his days as a shrimp: getting up the nerve to talk to a girl was still hard. He knew this was in a professional capacity, it was just business. But he was still trying to woo her, in a way. Just that instead of convincing her to go out on a date with him, he was convincing her to leave her life behind and join an alliance of super-humans to help defend the planet. Which didn’t really make him feel better at all.

When she sat with him at the coffee shop, he thought for sure his cover had been blown. That instead of trying to lose him, she was going to confront him in a public space, where, if anything went wrong, she could shout that she was being harassed and escape while well-meaning Samaritans helped. But then she didn’t seem to recognize him, just made fun of his French and seemed to act like he really _was_ a random tourist. And maybe even flirting with him a little? He was such a bad judge of that kind of thing. But he knew, whether the interaction was because she’d figured out who he was or it was truly an innocent coincidence, he couldn’t linger any longer in the shadows. He had to confront her, and he had to do it tonight.

He realized when it was too late that he probably shouldn’t have waited in her house. That was creepy. She lived alone in a secluded place. He had figured this would be a good way not to spook her, and she wouldn’t run, but when her car pulled up he realized it would have the opposite effect. Yet when she came in and saw him, instead of bolting, she got ready to fight. She didn’t even _try_ her powers, which was interesting.

He was surprised how easy it was to talk to her, wondered if her voice had other powers. There was no reason he should feel as relaxed as he did while they talked, despite his nerves. Maybe it was the food? He wondered if she’d made the stew from scratch, it was delicious. He was asking all of the professional, correct questions, but what he _wanted_ to ask was where she learned to cook, what were her favorite foods, find out if she had a sweet tooth. When she asked him to stay the night, he briefly had a panic attack, before realizing she just meant it as a courteous thing to do, and he felt a little foolish. He tried to say no, but she had basically told him to stay instead of asking. So he just took orders.

After they finished the cake and questions, she broke the barrier he’d been too afraid to, and started asking him questions about himself. Nothing inappropriate or too personal, even after all the wine had disappeared, she was just an engaging conversationalist, and again he felt a little too at ease. But this time, he was sure it wasn’t powers. It was just seeing her, cute and curled up at the opposite end of the couch, eyes a little extra sparkly from the wine. Alcohol didn’t impact him in the same way it did normal people, he had an exceptionally high tolerance, but the whole atmosphere created a sleepy, buzzed kind of feeling. It wasn’t even that he wanted to kiss her, much less go further than that. Well, he did. But in that moment, what he really wanted was just to hold her. Wrap his arms around her waist. Smell her hair while she curled under his arm on the couch and read a book. Spoon up behind her in bed as they drifted off to sleep.

When she finally suggested they call it a night, he was shocked to realize it was past midnight. They had been talking for hours. They went to start getting ready for bed, and he realized she only had one bathroom, so he joined her and they shared it while brushing their teeth. He tried to think if he’d ever brushed his teeth alongside a woman before. Even with Nat on missions, he was pretty sure he hadn’t. It was weirdly intimate. And when she finished before he did, she squeezed past him, putting her hands on his waist. He felt her breasts brush against him slightly, and suddenly he wasn’t tired anymore. He wasn’t going to do anything: she was his mission right now, and soon to be a colleague, it wasn’t appropriate for him to do anything. But it made it hard to drift off to sleep.

In the morning, they got up early to spar. She was almost comically sleepy, he tried to fight against how endearing he found it. He told her they should fight outside, he didn’t want to mess up her house. The place she was renting was part of a large property, field and some forest, but he suggested they just keep things simple, any open space would do. His rule was that she couldn’t use her power: they would have time to test that back at the Avengers compound, they didn’t need to test it here, and he just wanted to see her fight. No holds barred, but no bringing in weapons of any kind, just their bodies. And her goal was to get him on his back: she didn’t have to hold him there for a count of three, just his back hitting the ground was enough. She promised to make breakfast when they were done, assuming her hands and arms would still work. They wrapped their hands, mostly for the protection _of_ their knuckles, not _from_ them, and moved outside. They found a spot Steve was satisfied with, and she added “And please try not to break anything. I don’t own any of this, and I can’t afford to replace it. Nor do I want to start my time as an Avenger in indentured servitude.”

He nodded in agreement, and they settled into stances. He hung back for a second, to see if she would go all-in, but she didn’t, she waited cautiously, observing him and biding her time. It was smart: she was so much smaller than him, without her powers she’d have to rely on tricks to beat him. So he charged at her, since it was normally not likely to be her that started the fight. She danced around him, and avoided the punch when he spun as he passed her. So she was agile, that was good. Not quite as graceful as Nat, but that wasn’t a fair bar for comparison. He came at her more slowly next. She mostly stuck with avoiding his hits, defensive stances, and occasional counterattacks that were aimed more to distract or disorient him than do any real damage.

“Don’t pull your punches, Wren,” he advised her. This was supposed to be a test, he couldn’t adequately get a gauge of her abilities if she wasn’t using them. He had her backed into a corner.

“Aw, but I don’t want to mess up that pretty face! I think it would be considered treason!” she huffed out, and then ducked down and rolled past him, popping up just behind his shoulder. He tried to jab at her with the elbow that had just thrown a punch, but she dodged it, and so he pivoted and tried to adjust his stance to accommodate her new location, and throw a cross.

That was the plan, anyway.

Instead, he planted his foot wrong, rolling his ankle, and causing him to tumble onto his back. She leapt onto him, straddling his stomach and momentarily winding him a little as she pumped her fists in the air in victory, “YESSSS! And the crowd goes wild, AHHHHH!”

He could hardly believe it. He considered demanding a rematch. She hadn’t knocked him down, he just tripped. But then he realized: he didn’t just trip, she had specifically maneuvered him to putting his foot into a mole hole. He hadn’t even seen the damned thing. Oh, she was good. She was also wearing a dress and straddling him. He’d encouraged her to wear normal street clothes for the sparring match, as he wanted to get a realistic idea of what she could do in a normal fight, not one with ideal conditions. He raised an eyebrow when she came out in a dress, but she insisted that it had better freedom of movement than anything he could wear, and he couldn’t fault her for that. But now she was on top of him, flushed and breathless, hair a mess, and he could feel how warm she was. He wanted to pull her down to him and kiss her senseless, his adrenaline was pumping and the urge to touch her was almost overwhelming. And when she looked down at him with that wicked grin of victory, tongue peeking out between her teeth just a little, he was pretty sure his heart almost stopped.

But she pushed herself up off him, and offered a hand to help him stand up. “Sorry, did you hurt your ankle at all? I couldn’t tell how deep the hole was, but I didn’t hear anything snap…”

“I rolled it a bit, it’s a little tender but I heal quickly,” he said, but gritted his teeth as he put weight on it. She moved to his side, putting her arm around his waist and settling his on her shoulder to support him. It wasn’t necessarily, but she just did it so automatically, ready to help. He was about to brush it off, but instead said “Thanks,” and tried not to put too much weight on her.

They got back inside, and she got him settled at the table. He was surprised when she lifted his foot up without a word, took his sneaker off and placed the foot on another chair. She looked at it and then watched his face as she gently prodded a few points on his skin. He felt a little silly, normally he didn’t even worry about injuries unless they caused internal bleeding.

She pronounced “Well, doesn’t look too bad, but it’s slightly swollen. I’m sure it would be fine with no intervention, but I’ll get you a bag of ice anyway. Actually…” she went over to the freezer, pulled out a bag, and wrapped it in in a clean dishcloth. “It’s frozen cherries, I’ll make a sauce with them for breakfast after you’re done with them. So,” she lifted his foot and sat under it, delicately placing it on her lap, “we’ll keep that raised for a few minutes. Do I get a report card or something?”

He chuckled, “Well, you _did_ win the fight. You’re good at thinking on your feet and using the environment, which is good, because that’s hard to teach. You were on the defensive the whole time, which gave you time to observe, but I’d be interested to see how you handle being on the offensive. Normally we are defending, but sometimes we need to capture or subdue, and we’re the aggressors. It’s harder to take in your surroundings when you’re in that position, so I’d still like to see more of you fighting.”

“So that’s like…an A? B+?”

“I’ll say it’s an A in defensive tactics, the rest is TBD.”

She preened a little, “I’ll take it! So…um…when were you going back to the Avengers compound?”

“Well, whenever you’re ready to go. I was hoping today.”

She started a little in surprise, “Oh! That’s quick! I, uh…I’m going to have to quit my job, and settle up with my landlords. Damn, I’m going to lose out on my deposit…”

“Don’t worry about it, we’ll cover it. Also, we should talk salary.”

“You said I get room & board, right?”

“Yes, but there’s also a salary,” he explained, and then told her the number. It was cute watching her try to act nonchalant, even if it was clearly many times what she made as a courier. He got the impression that she probably would’ve been fine if they only gave her a place to stay, but with Stark’s funding, they could do better than that. It’s not like there was superhero insurance. Even if it was more than she expected, she tried negotiating him up a bit, and he threw up his hands, saying she’d have to take it up with HR.

She gave his ankle a peek, “Looks like the swelling is down! Keep it on the chair, just in case, but I’ll get started on breakfast!”

“Do you need any help?” he offered.

“No, you can stay off your foot for now.” She bustled around the kitchen, dumping the cherries in a pot, adding some water and sugar, then setting about gathering the other supplies. “How hungry are you? If I’m going to clear out soon, I don’t want to leave stuff behind to go bad, but I don’t know how super soldier metabolism works.”

“I’m always hungry, and I can eat like a horse.”

“Well then feast we shall!” she declared before turning to pull armloads of food from the fridge. She put some fresh fruit and cheeses out on the table and chattered the whole time explained the origin of French toast and giving her thoughts on French food.

He had put a lot of work into updating his views on women, since things had changed more than a little while he was in the ice. But there was still something that tugged at him to see a woman in the kitchen. He was never a great cook, too busy to learn, but he hoped to remedy that one day. For now, he watched her go about her tasks, she seemed to have a knack for cooking. She wasn’t even looking up recipes or anything.

When she had finished, there was a huge feast in front of him: some charcuterie was put out next to the cheeses and fruits, and some of the best French toast, or _pain perdu_ as she called it, he had ever eaten, piled high with the cherries that had recently helped heal his ankle.

After that, she conceded that he could clean up, and she got started contacting the people she needed to contact, getting dressed and cleaned up, and of course packing. She didn’t have a lot that was actually hers, just some clothes and her toiletries, so the whole process didn’t take very long. She did request that they take one more trip into town. Not for anything crucial, she just wanted to pick up some things to bring back to the States. She said she couldn’t meet the Avengers empty-handed, which he thought was sweet, even if he assured her it was unnecessary. He needed to check out of his hotel anyway, so he agreed.

A few hours later, they were boarding the Quinjet with all her worldly possessions, plus “ _un pique-nique_ ”, a massive hamper of food and treats for them to tuck into on the flight and when they got home. He was a little sad for her that she didn’t have anyone she wanted to say goodbye to. But he knew how lonely it could be to be on the road.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little taste of Steve's side of things! Thoughts? Wren's headed to the Avengers compound, anything you're hoping for/looking forward to?


	4. Chapter 4

She wasn’t sure what to expect when they landed. But as they walked down the ramp into the hangar, Steve helping her with the luggage while she managed the still-heavy picnic basket, she was a bit surprised to see a scruffy, hot, angry-looking man striding towards them. She smiled at him warmly, but he didn’t seem to care about her at all, he was focused on Steve.

“What the _fuck_ , Steve?” the man demanded.

“Good to see you too, Buck,” Steve responded, confirming her suspicions of who Angry Guy was.

“You said you would be gone three days _tops_. You’ve been gone a week, and you went radio silent for 36 hours straight! If you hadn’t called in with your ETA, I woulda gone to France to find you my-fuckin’- _self_.”

“I appreciate the concern Buck, but there was nothing to worry about. I’m fine, and the mission was a success!” He turned to include Wren in the conversation, “See? Bucky, this is the newest member of the team, Wren Gold. Wren, the jerk who hasn’t stopped yelling since you arrived is James Buchanan Barnes, but you can call him Bucky, everyone does.”

She held out her hand to shake, but he just grunted in a way that managed to both acknowledge her existence and imply “you better not call me Bucky.”

She withdrew her hand. “Well, nice to meet you.”

He bit back, “Don’t you have someplace better to be? I need to talk to Steve.”

She was getting a little tired of this shit. “Considering I haven’t even made it off the plane yet, and I’ve never been here before: Yes, I do have someplace better to be. But I need Steve too, unless you’re offering to give me the tour.”

He glared at her, looking her up and down. Steve was trying not to laugh at this whole interaction, but piped up, “You heard the lady, Buck. Just give me a minute to give her the tour and get her settled in her room. I’ll find you when we’re done. In fact, I think she’s going to be right by us, so I can just meet you at your room, okay?”

Bucky didn’t say anything, just threw his hands in the air and stomped off.

After a beat, and when she was pretty sure he was out of ear shot, she broke the silence, “Well he seems niiiiice!”

Steve laughed, “He is, when you get to know him. It’s my fault, I should have called him back. Well, let’s get you settled.

He gave her a quick tour of the facilities. Pepper met them in the living area, greeting Wren warmly and gladly taking the picnic basket off her hands. They chatted briefly, and Pepper said she wanted to host a welcome party for her the following evening so she could meet everyone. Wren thanked her, and they agreed to get lunch the next day, get her paperwork taken care of and whatnot. Pepper passed her a phone, already programmed with all the contacts and apps she would need, and then left her and Steve to finish up.

He led her to the place she would now call home, but stood in the doorway. She took a turn around the room, and then realized he hadn’t followed her in. “Steve, you know you can come in, right?”

He smiled and looked at his feet, “It didn’t seem…proper.”

“Steve, shut up and come in. Just sit for a minute. Take a load off. Bucky will still be mad either way.”

“Well, when you put it that way,” he came in, and she noticed he left the door open. You can take the man out of the forties…

He explained a few more things about the compound, and they chatted for a bit before he made his excuses. She would never have said so aloud, but it was nice to have a moment’s quiet. It had been an overwhelming couple of days, and the jetlag was catching up on her. She hastily unpacked her things, vowing that tomorrow she would do a proper inventory, and figure out how she was going to start spending the massive cash advance she was being given. She’d probably donate a bunch of it, but she could freshen up her wardrobe, update her tech, and feather her new nest and still have plenty left over for charity. But the lists could wait until she had some food and some sleep.

After the basic unpacking was done, she went to find the kitchen again. Her suite had a sort of kitchenette, but it wasn’t stocked with much. She had already changed into her pajamas, so she padded out in bare feet, and was relieved to find the kitchen empty. She started rifling through the cabinets, checking out what equipment and supplies there were. It didn’t seem like anyone did much cooking: the plates and silverware were nice but clearly used, but the pots and pans hadn’t seen a lot of wear and tear, and the baking equipment even less so. It was very well-stocked, though. There was an assortment of snacks, in the pantry and in the fridge. When she got to the fridge, she saw mostly containers of leftover takeout, and she smiled a little. Then her face fell as she realized she didn’t really know if there even _was_ communal food. If she took that yogurt, would Bruce Banner go green on her?

She had her head deep enough in the fridge she almost didn’t notice the quietly whispered “Dammit” from behind her. She turned around and saw Bucky turning back around to head out the door.

She called after him, “Sorry, I can get out of your way.” He stopped, hung his head for a second, and then turned back. She continued, “I don’t want to take anyone else’s stuff anyway, so I’ll just…”

“Most of the people here just eat takeout or prepared meals, so stay out of those or anything with a name on it. Everything else is up for grabs.”

She was shocked, she didn’t expect to get anything from The Angry Guy. “Thanks, that’s super helpful! I was just…”

“Look, I don’t need your life story. I just came in for a beer.”

She stepped back, bowing to concede the fridge to him. What a fucking _asshole_. She waited as he stepped up, grabbed a couple of bottles, and slammed the door. She caught it before it could close, grabbing a yogurt, and then shutting it like a reasonable person. She re-discovered the drawer of silverware, and then walked back to her room with her supplies.

No sooner had she turned down the hall when she heard a male groan, “I’m telling you, I don’t want to talk! You don’t need to friggin’ follow me!”

She stopped in her tracks, first looking up at Bucky, then over her shoulder to see if he was talking to someone else. No one else was there. He was yelling at _her_. She looked back at him and saw his expression of exasperated annoyance.

“Uh…dude…you’re standing about three feet from my door. I’m not following you. I’m just not lucky enough to get to escape you.” And she strode to her door, bumping him as she turned to open her door and slammed it in his face.

She wanted to throw the stupid yogurt across the room. She scrunched her face, pursed her lips, trying to force the stupid tears back into their stupid ducts and keep her stupid lip from stupid quivering. She had been here for less than two hours, and she already had someone who hated her. And maybe it wasn’t for any real reason. But what if it was? Had he seen something in her file? Had Steve told him something? Was everyone else going to feel the same way? Was he going to poison everyone else against her before she gets to know anyone? It was fucking high school all over again. Every school she’d ever been to. At least as an adult when she moved, it was easy to escape people like that. She could always find a different job, a different apartment, a new bar or café to hang out in. If it was bad, she could find a whole new city. Hell, a whole new _country_. She didn’t have to wait for the government or a local crime boss or whoever to find her, she could leave because she was sick of fighting with Karen about the stupid office supplies. But here…

The weight of her decision finally hit her. She was trapped. She couldn’t escape, not from Bucky, but also not from _any_ of this. She collapsed on the floor, letting the sobs wrack her body and just trying to do it quietly. She could feel all the insecurities, all the fears, all the shame. It felt like it was drowning her. Why did she think she could do this? She wasn’t an Avenger, she was a freak. There wasn’t a place for her here because there wasn’t a place for her _anywhere_.

There was a soft knock on the door at her back. Fuuuuuck. Oh god, please don’t be Bucky with some forced-apology bullshit. If he saw that she’d been crying, then there would really be nowhere to hide, there would be no way to disappear from the Avengers.

She heard Steve’s voice through the door, “Wren? You okay?”

Well…not great, but better. She shouldn’t ignore him. She scooted over next to the door and reached up to pull the handle, opening it a crack. Steve peeked in first, then stepped in, looking around, confused. “Down here,” she managed, trying to scrub the tears off her cheeks with the inside of her wrist.

He gave her a concerned look as he shut the door and sat down next to her. “I’m so sorry, Wren. Bucky just…he doesn’t know how he sounds sometimes. He didn’t mean to…”

“It’s not Bucky,” she cut him off.

He looked like he didn’t know what to do with his hands. Or, really, with any of himself. “Was it…something _I_ did?”

She put her hand on his, “No, no, no, Steve, not at all. You’ve been great.” She gave his hand a squeeze and let go before she made everything in the world terrible by making things weird with her one pity-friend. “Just got kind of…overwhelmed, I guess. It’s been a helluva day.”

“I get that, it’s a lot.”

“I really should shut up, the day you became an Avenger was the day you woke up after being in the ice for like a century.”

“Seventy years, but who’s counting,” he lowered a massive shoulder and nudged her. “No matter how you got here, it’s a lot. You’re allowed to feel your feelings. And, hey, no one shouted at me when I tried to go to bed, so, you know, you’re a record-setter.”

She cracked a smile, “Wow, do I get like a commemorative plaque or something?”

“I think it’s a trophy.”

“What would the little figure on the trophy be?”

“It’s Bucky’s scowly, angry face,” he said, imitating the expression.

She laughed out loud at that, “That’s perfect, you do a good Bucky impression!”

“I should hope so, I’ve had 80 years to practice.”

“Does time as a popsicle count?”

“Okay, fine, still: over a decade.”

“It’s still good. Thanks, Steve,” she nudged him back with her shoulder.

He pushed himself up on his knees and offered her hand, “Come ‘ere.”

She took his hand, hoisted herself up to kneeling, and let him wrap his arms around her. God, he was a great hugger. But with arms like that, it would be a real waste if he wasn’t.

She reluctantly pulled back from the hug, to look up into his face. “You’re the best, Steve. I’m glad for whatever short straw you drew to get stuck with recruiting duty for me.”

He blushed a little, but didn’t let go of her waist. “It was my pleasure. And hey, I got some French food out of the deal. And don’t worry, everyone’s going to love you. And Buck will come around, I promise. He’s a softy on the inside.”

She gave him a skeptical look, “Well, I’ll believe everyone else is nice. And maybe that Bucky has a chewy center. I’m gonna reserve my judgement on the rest though.”

He smiled down at her and brushed a tear from her cheek, “You’re gonna be fine, you’ll see.”

“So do they pay you extra to double as a therapist-slash-mom for the newbies?”

“This is my first time offering the service. How am I doing?”

“Excellent! I’ll give you a five-star performance review!” she grinned up at him. He just smiled down at her for a second. Was he…? No. No way. This was Steve Rogers. Captain America. He was just…being nice. She sat back on her heels before she embarrassed herself. “New-member offering or not, I really appreciate everything you’ve done. You’ve been a really good friend.”

He sat back, and an expression flashed across his face that she couldn’t quite read, before he ran his fingers through his hair. “My pleasure. And I’ll talk to Buck.”

“No, don’t worry about it. He’ll feel how he feels. I think I’d actually rather he just kept hating me than be strong-armed into being nice to me. No pun intended.”

“He doesn’t…”

“We’ll sort it out, Steve. I promise. I’ll be a good li’l Avenger, I won’t let you down, Cap!” she grinned at him and saluted.

He got to his feet and offered a hand. “Well,” he said, pulling her up, “I better leave you to your yogurt. I’ll see you in the morning, you’ve got my number in your new phone, call me if you want to get breakfast or something.”

“Yessir!”

* * *

After she closed the door, Steve waited for a moment, listening. When he heard her walk away and turn on some music, he heaved a sigh, then turned to Bucky’s door. “Come on, man,” he said as soon as it opened.

Bucky had smiled when he first saw Steve, but his face fell at the expression his best friend was wearing. He stepped aside to let Steve in, they didn’t need to do this in the hall. “What’s up, Steve?”

“Why are you treating Wren like that?”

“Did the little bird come crying to you already?”

“No, Buck, I heard you yelling at her and I went to check on her. Why were you being like that?”

“I just don’t see why you had to go recruit her, or why it took so long. She _can’t_ be worth all that.”

“She is and you know it. You saw her file, Buck. And, really her power is…it’s really something. You’re lucky she didn’t use it against you. And she’s smart, she can fight. She beat me in the test.”

“Is she really trustworthy? You just don’t know how to handle a skirt, you probably went soft on her after she batted her eyelashes at you.”

“I’m tellin’ ya, Buck: I didn’t. She’s tough, and smart. And she’s a whole lot nicer than you’re giving her credit for. You’d like her, Buck, you’ve just got to give her a chance.”

Bucky looked Steve up and down, “Doesn’t sound like she needs me to like her. It seems like you like her enough for the both of us.”

“It’s not like that. You’ll see.”

“How do we know she wasn’t using her powers on you, Steve? That she hasn’t mind-controlled you to get access to the compound?”

Steve stepped closer to Bucky, staring him down. “I mean it, Buck. Play nice with Wren. She is the newest member of our team, and if you can’t suck it up and work with her, I can’t help you.”

Bucky looked like he wanted to argue, but he stopped himself, and just nodded.

Steve started towards the door, and then turned back for a moment, “Pepper’s putting a party together for her tomorrow. You don’t have to come, but if you do, I expect you to be nice.”

“Okay, mom,” Bucky rolled his eyes and gave him a lopsided smile.

“And clean your room, this place is a pigsty,” Steve teased, closing the door just in time to avoid being hit by the laundry Bucky threw at him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Bucky. Why you gotta be like that?
> 
> How's it goin' everyone? Thoughts? Feelings? The next chapter...I can't decide what I want to do. It's more of Wren settling in and meeting everyone else, but it's not very exciting (low on the drama/angst scale, and still no smut). But it explains more of Wren's powers and abilities. Should I include it, or skip it and get to the juicier parts? LMK in the comments!


	5. Chapter 5

The next day Wren got down to the more practical things. She met with Pepper to go over HR paperwork, and tried not to laugh at the idea of a superhero filling out a W-4. After that was settled, she made the rounds to get introduced to everyone and have initial assessments made of her other abilities. Pepper took her to the lab first, where she met Tony and Bruce. Tony immediately wanted to feel the effects of her powers, so Pepper took the opportunity to flee while Tony got ready to record and Bruce set up some medical test equipment.

Wren was frankly terrified. Doctors and labs had been #1 on her “To Avoid” list for so long, making the mental switch now felt impossible. She had been terrified of her powers being found out and just getting locked up in a lab for her whole life, so suddenly being in a position of wanting to trust the scientists was hard. But Bruce was sweet, and Tony was funny and charming, so she got as relaxed as she could. They were patient and understanding, and Bruce especially put a lot of effort into helping her understand everything that was happening, why they were doing it, how it worked, how it would be useful. She liked watching the equipment, too, see all the squiggly lines and numbers that were supposed to represent her heartbeat, her breathing, even her brain waves, it was all kind of cool even if she didn’t understand it. Bruce offered to let her come to the lab whenever she wanted, just to learn more about science, and she shocked herself by eagerly agreeing.

Once she and Tony were both wired up, Bruce went into a soundproof booth. They agreed to start small, so Tony braced himself and she quickly sang the note for sleep. He was instantly out, and Bruce came out beaming, excited at the prospect of being able to instantly shut Tony up. They looked at the monitors, and confirmed that Tony was in the deepest phase of sleep, and she guessed he’d stay that way for up to a half hour. She and Bruce just talked, he explained some more of the equipment, and some of the theories he had about how her power physically worked. She didn’t really understand what he was talking about, but he kindly offered her some reading she could do to familiarize herself with some of the basic concepts he was working around.

When Tony woke up, they went to work gathering more data. They got baseline measurements of her doing other types of singing, both just plain notes on the scale without using her powers, as well as full songs without powers. They recorded her using her powers with other notes, but this time in a sound-proof booth. According to Tony, he was willing to do a lot for science, but he would only shit himself on his own terms.

They also started exploring some of her still-developing powers. She had noticed that she could put a little power into other songs, not just individual notes, and have subtler effects on people. She hadn’t tried a lot, but she noticed she could make people openly weep doing a sad song at karaoke, or start bar fights by singing along to something angry. After she tried that, she stopped herself, so she didn’t know what other effects she could have, but she didn’t want to risk kicking off any orgies or anything, so she’d played it safe. And Tony was convinced that she could use her voice to physically impact things. Music was ultimately soundwaves, and you can use soundwaves to manipulate the physical world, so he figured she must be able to modulate her voice accordingly.

Scott showed up with lunch, and they ate in the office area of the lab building while she watched the three of them pinball theories off each other. Once they were done and they had a mountain of data to work with, Bruce escorted her over to the weapons range and introduced her to Clint and Nat. Wren could fully admit that this was her weak point, she’d had hand-to-hand training, but she’d tried to stay away from weapons. She was better with a bow and arrow than she would have guessed, Clint was encouraging and sarcastic, fairly patient considering she didn’t know anything about archery. Nat was openly mocking her for her complete lack of talent with a gun, but it was good-natured. Wren’s experience with guns had more frequently involved being on the wrong end of them, so it was understandable that the clashing metal and deafening bangs were upsetting, but Nat and Clint both helped her feel as comfortable as they reasonably could. And with thrown weapons, she almost slashed her leg open when she fumbled an axe, so they called it good.

They talked over what her weapons training would likely involve. Since she was going to mostly focus on her powers and hand-to-hand combat, they just wanted to make sure she was familiar and comfortable with ranged weapons for now. She didn’t need to be a crack shot, she just needed to understand how to safely use them. Nat took her to the gym, but didn’t have to make any introductions, as she was joining Steve. He gave her a more in-depth tour of the facilities: the boxing equipment and hand-to-hand combat training area, a section with melee weapons for her to try, in addition to normal gym equipment for strength and cardio training. She wanted to ask about the melee weapons, but she got the impression that the expert for that area was Bucky, who unsurprisingly hadn’t shown. Steve didn’t need to assess her skills, as he’d already done that, and he figured she was tired after everything else that day. He was supposed to take her out to the hangar next, but he took her the long way, around the back side of the compound. There was a nicely-landscaped area between the buildings and the trees, including a space where it looked like someone had tried to start a small garden, and Steve walked her through there.

She told him about what they’d done in the lab, the information they’d already gathered and the theories they were discussing. He’d heard it all before from Tony, but he was happy just listening to her talk, and her excitement was contagious. She confessed she was pretty useless with ranged weapons, but she was willing to try. Then she asked him about his day, he told her a little about the recon work that had been going down, some of the things they had been keeping an eye on. He realized halfway through that he was going into an unnecessary amount of detail, but she seemed engaged, asking questions and getting clarification if she didn’t understand something. She was so easy to talk to, he was pretty sure he’d spill his guts on anything she asked about.

They made it to the hangar, and he introduced her to Sam. Steve stuck around during the tour of the various vehicles they had at their disposal, both land and air. She knew how to drive just fine, and had a motorcycle license, so they weren’t worried about that. She also confessed that she could hotwire at least older cars and motorcycles, but hadn’t messed with newer models that relied more on computers and had keyless systems. These were two by-the-books military sorts, so she felt guilty even telling them about her less-than-legal skills, but they just looked impressed. Sam even said it was “kinda hot” which got a stern look from Steve, and made Wren laugh. She said she’d love to learn to fly, but had no experience, so Sam agreed to start her in ground school when she could find time between her other training.

When they wrapped up with the transport options, it was almost time for Pepper’s dinner party, so the three of them walked back together. Sam and Wren had started talking about movies they’d loved growing up, and Steve couldn’t relate, so he hung back a little. He almost ran into Wren when she stopped suddenly and whipped around, grabbing his arm, “Steve! I can’t believe I haven’t thought to ask, but you must have a list of things you’re catching up on! Can I know what’s on it?”

Her eyes were so bright he was just stunned for a moment. “Oh, uh, yeah, sure. I’ve checked a lot of things off, but it just keeps getting longer.”

“I’m sorry, it’s so nosy of me. And I’ll try not to add to your list too much.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind. Everybody does it.”

“Well, then, I’ll only add things to your list if I help you check something else off. Fair?”

“More than fair.”

Sam interjected, “His list might need a womanly perspective anyway. A lot of the stuff on there has been dude-fare.”

Her grin got mischievous, “Well now I desperately want to know not only what’s on the list, but who put it on there. And how you decide what to check off. And if anyone has been a jerk with their recommendations. Are people recommending…you know what, I won’t ask, I’ll find out soon enough! Oh, this is gonna be so much _fun_!” and she danced ahead a bit. Sam just looked Steve up and down for a moment, before turning and following Wren. Steve tried to get his blush under control before jogging along after them.

Wren hustled off to her room to freshen up, and wanted to go offer to help Pepper with any setup or anything, so she said a quick goodbye. Sam hung back with Steve for a second, and when the Wren was out of earshot said, “Well she’s something, isn’t she? Whiskey in a teacup.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Steve bristled a little.

“Relax, man. It just means she’s…well, kind of cute and innocent on the outside, but inside she packs a punch. She’s a firecracker.”

“Oh, yeah. She’s definitely that.”

Sam’s eyebrows raised, “And a nice ass on her.”

“Sam, come on!” Steve chastised.

Sam look like he’d just caught Steve out, “Oh you like her, don’t you?”

“What? No! I mean, I like her as a person, but she’s a new member of the team! I can’t just…no. It’s inappropriate. She’s a colleague.”

“A colleague with a nice ass. Just nice curves in general, really…”

“ _Sam_!”

“Look at you, blushing! Are you gonna ask her out?”

“No!”

“So is it okay if I do?”

“NO!” Steve’s eyes got huge with shock. “I mean…I guess you can. I just don’t think…”

“You don’t think it’s appropriate, uh-huh. Don’t worry, I won’t work my magic on her. But a woman like that isn’t going to stay single forever. _Someone_ will snap her up.”

“I don’t think she’s, I mean, she wouldn’t…” Steve sighed. Sam was right. He half wanted to tell Sam all the other amazing things about her, as if he needed any more proof of his point, but he stopped himself. “Thanks man.”

* * *

At the party, Wren got to meet Wanda, and got to interrogate her about her powers. They pretty instantly bonded, as their powers had some similarity and…well, adding another woman to the team was no small deal. They even got Pepper and Nat to agree to a girls’ night as soon as they could pin down a date. Of course, deciding what to do was going to be a challenge, especially after Nat made it clear she wanted to do it in the gun range. They agreed to make a day of it that would give them more time to compromise between the various tastes.

When the meal was served, Wren was seated between Scott and Sam. She and Scott were in absolute hysterics discussing some of the shadier parts of their respective pasts. It made her laugh harder seeing Steve blush over a story where she’d had a cop try to bust her for prostitution when she had _actually_ been trying to steal a car, and trying to talk her way out of it while getting away from the gang members who were on her tail. She thought Bucky might have even smiled at that part, but that might have been wishful thinking on her part. He mostly ignored her throughout the party, which was probably for the best. She was surprised he even bothered to come. But he wasn’t being too much of a buzzkill, so she figured that was a huge improvement.

She tried to talk to everyone (but Bucky), get to know the whole team a little better. She thought she felt Steve’s eyes on her all night, but assumed he was just worried about how she was fitting in. It seemed to be going well, though! It didn’t seem like anyone else hated her right off the bat, which was really all she hoped for. And she thought she would be able to count Scott and Wanda amongst her friends. And everyone else (but Bucky) was lovely. She was still a bit worried about Thor when he eventually made it back, she’d never met a demigod before, but that was a problem for another day.

After things wound down, Steve walked her back to her room. As she looked up into his gorgeous face, she couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking about. She wasn’t always sure how to read him. His face was usually a pretty open book, but there were so many times where she wasn’t sure if she was offending his sensibilities. He blushed a lot more than she would have thought Captain America would. And it seemed like there were so many times he had something he was just about to say, but then stopped himself. “What’s on your mind, Steve?”

“Huh?”

“You just…you look like you have something you want to say. You don’t have to tell me anything you don’t want to, I just wanted to…check on you. I guess.”

“Oh, uh…that’s very thoughtful.”

“You’ve been so kind to me, I just wanted to make sure you’re okay, too. I know you have Bucky to talk to, but…”

“Well, he’s a better listener than I’d imagine he’d seem to you. But thank you, Wren.”

She put her hand on his arm, and he looked down at it for a moment before looking back up at her. He got that same look again, like there was something else he wanted to say, but he pulled her into a hug instead. She thought this might be her favorite part of being an Avenger. Sure, she was excited to try to make the world a better place, understand her powers better, and to get to work alongside some of the most amazing people in the world. And once she got used to it, she thought she’d enjoy not being on the run anymore. But having Steve wrap his strong arms around her shoulders, curling her arms around his waist and pressing herself into his chest, feeling him rest his chin or cheek on the top of her head, was the best feeling in the world. It was so warm, safe, comforting. And it wasn’t just because he was strong, it was because he was just so _good_. He was a genuinely kind person, and better-intentioned than a boy scout, and the fact that he was still this way after all he’d seen and been through was amazing.

And the twitchy, excited warmth that grew in her stomach every time she looked at him, much less touched him, didn’t hurt either.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Getting to knoowwwww yooouuuuuuu, getting to know all abooouuuut yoooooouuuuuu!"
> 
> I'm excited for some of the ways Wren's powers will grow and develop! Man, it would be tough to think of a list of karaoke jams if you knew you could use them to influence your audience...


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're fast-forwarding a little bit, this takes place about a month later.

“Steve, no! Come on, man! She’s not ready. I can do this mission on my own, you don’t need to send her with me,” she could hear Bucky shouting. They weren’t exactly trying to be quiet, and the door to the office was open. She was supposed to meet with Steve, anyway. It didn’t feel like eavesdropping, it was hardly her fault Bucky’s two volume settings were “yelling” or “brooding silence.”

“Buck, come on. Really, if I was going to send one person on the mission, it would be Wren. She speaks French. She’s empathetic. She can talk to people, and she could use her powers to neutralize a bad situation. And she’s been training _hard_ for the last month. But you’re right: she’s not ready to take on a mission solo. So I’m sending _you_ as _her_ backup, not the other way around.”

“If you don’t need an assassin, then why send me at all? Send Wanda. Or Sam.”

“I know you’ll keep her safe, Buck. You don’t have to like it, but I know you’ll do your job.”

She heard a few more whispered words, and decided it was as good a time as any to barge in. She walked in and knocked on the open door. “Steve? You wanted to see me?” she tried to smile optimistically, as if she hadn’t gotten a preview of what Steve had called her in about.

“Yeah, come on in, Wren. I think you’re ready for your first mission. We’ve tracked down a Hydra member. She wasn’t an agent, she was a scientist, so this isn’t a kill mission. We need to talk to her. If we can get her to come willingly, that would be optimal, but if it isn’t possible, subdue and capture is acceptable. We’ve tracked her to Paris, I just sent the files to you to review on the flight. You’re going to bring Bucky, he’ll be transport and backup. Can you be wheels up in 15?” the question was directed at Bucky, who gave a curt nod and stormed out.

Wren looked at Steve, “Are you sure about this?”

He walked over to her, putting a hand on her shoulder, “You’ve got this, Wren. If I didn’t think you could handle it, I wouldn’t be sending you.”

“Thank you for your vote of confidence, but that wasn’t what I was talking about. I meant with Bucky.”

“I trust you not to kill him, it should be a quick trip.”

She smiled at him, “I’ll try to restrain myself. But I can’t help but think you’re trying to set us up on some sort of Parent Trap thing,” she paused when he shrugged, “Oh, uh, I guess you wouldn’t know those movies. It’s like you’re trying to put us in a situation in an attempt to _force_ us into being friends.”

“Well, it’s not a trap. It’s a mission. But you two _do_ need to work out your differences. You’ve just got to give him a chance.”

“Steve, the difference is just that _he hates me_. I don’t hate him back, 95% of me thinks he’s got some shit to work out, and 5% of me thinks he’s just genuinely a dick, but I’m not going to bend over backwards to convince him to like me.”

“I’m not asking you to. Just be yourself, and he’ll come around. He’s my best friend. I just want you to get along,” Steve was giving her his best puppy dog eyes and running his thumb along her shoulder.

“Not fair, it’s _damn_ hard to say no to that face. Fine. I’ll give him a chance. But I better run and pack if we’re wheels up in 15.”

He pulled her in for a quick hug, then walked her to her room. She grabbed her mission bag, already supplied with toiletries, a few basic clothes, plus some survival and first aid supplies, and started looking through her closet. It was Paris, she didn’t exactly need mountaineering gear. She did pick out some nicer clothes that would blend in a little better, plus a little black dress and a pair of heels she thought she could run in if there was an emergency. Steve teased her about what kind of emergency required heels, and she advised him to ask Nat or Wanda. When they got out to the hangar, he gave her another hug, and shot a meaningful look over her shoulder at Bucky. He watched the sky for a long time after he couldn’t see the jet anymore.

* * *

If Bucky had his way, they would have just done a human “smash and grab” and kidnapped the scientist. The woman wasn’t making it hard to find her, it seemed like all she did was go out and about to be seen in public. But she was hard to approach. She didn’t stop in any one place for long, she was always on the move, and always with witnesses. Hence Bucky’s “plan” to just essentially say “fuck it.”

Wren had other ideas. “Look, just give me tonight. I’ll get her alone and talk with her. If it doesn’t work, then tomorrow we’ll try your plan. But no weapons, just let me use my powers, fewer people will get hurt,” she explained through the door of her room as she finished getting ready.

“See, this is why Steve never should have sent you!” he called to her from the common space. He hated her plan. They’d gotten wind that the target was going out dancing, and Wren thought that would be the best time to approach. She would have had a little alcohol, maybe even some other drugs, and her inhibitions would be low. “I don’t want people to get hurt either, but we’ve already wasted too much time. Just let me grab her, and we can go home and be done with all of this.”

She gave herself a final once-over in the mirror, deciding it was adequate for a night at the club. She went out, putting her earrings in. “Okay, well, you can’t pull it off tonight, the club has security, if you try to throw her over your shoulder like a caveman, you’re going to get more attention than we need. Just come out, have a beer, maybe dance with some pretty ladies. Hey, maybe _you_ could be a honeypot, I bet Steve would be impressed if you could reel in an asset without using a weapon.” He was just staring at her, mouth open a little. She continued, “I mean, you don’t _have_ to. I just don’t think I’m her type. So if sisterhood and solidarity don’t work…”

“You…you look really nice,” he uttered, and he had a weird look on his face. Almost like he was…surprised? Maybe hurt? What _was_ that expression?

She cocked her head at him a little, confused by the compliment. Then she smoothed her dress, “Thank you, Bucky. That’s…nice of you to say. So...do we have an agreement?”

He stared at her for a few more moments, and she took the opportunity to step forward and offer her hand. He gave her a little smile, and took it, with a “Deal.”

She smiled back, and attempted, “Oh shit, you _can_ smile! I didn’t know it was possible! Use that on the target and I bet we can wrap this up in a jiff. Especially if you can dance!”

He ran a hand over his face, trying to hide the smile he couldn’t quite turn off. “Well, I used to dance all the time, Steve was the one who refused to try. But now…I don’t think I know the steps anymore.”

She chuckled a little, “Well, dancing these days is a little different. But it’s a lot easier for men, you don’t have to lead, all you have to do is sway to the music a little and let her rub her body on yours, maybe put your hand on her waist.”

He looked at her with a mix of surprise, confusion, maybe a little disappointment, and a lot of disbelief. “That _can’t_ be true…”

“Well, you’ll find out soon enough. You’ll see, plenty of ladies will want to dance with you. You could use a haircut, but that’s a nice shirt.”

When they got to the club, she could feel him tense up next to her at all the burly- and seedy-looking guys standing outside smoking. She took his hand to guide him in through the door, smiling and saying something quietly to the bouncer as they passed. She took him in through the corridors, and came out in a high-ceilinged room packed wall-to-wall with people. Bucky was already regretting everything, but felt a quick squeeze of the hand. Wren pulled him through the crowd, and brought him to a bar on a raised platform, ordering drinks in French and then leaning against the bar with him to survey the crowd.

She cozied up under his arm. They agreed that, at least to start, they’d draw less attention if they looked like a couple, and they could put their differences aside for an hour for the sake of the mission. She raised herself up to whisper-shout in his ear, “I don’t see her yet, I don’t think she’s here. There’s a spot over there we’d have a good view of the door.”

“On the edge of the dancefloor? Wouldn’t we have to _dance_?”

“Well, I suppose you could just stand there while I dance around you, but it might look weird.”

“I don’t know if this is that kind of club, but for the record, I don’t think it would look that weird.”

She leaned back for a second to look at him, then moved her lips to his ear again, “Did you just make a _joke_? I’m going to have to put that in my mission report!”

He just gave his little half-smile, and turned to take their drinks from the bartender. They lifted their glasses in cheers, quickly finished their drinks, and then it was his turn to lead her out to the dancefloor. Of course, when they found the right position, he was at a bit of a loss. He could tell she wanted to laugh at him, but she just maneuvered them into position so he could have a good view of the entrance, and she could try to keep an eye on the shifting mass of bodies.

She had to admit, it wasn’t easy to focus. She had her body molded against Bucky’s, hands pressed into him. Earlier that day, she’d seen him take his shirt off back at the safehouse, and it was…quite the sight. And then before they came here, it seemed like there was a change in him. She’d even gotten him to smile a couple of times. Maybe she _was_ finally breaking down his walls.

She was also looking around to see if there was someone else she could distract herself with. She didn’t necessarily like the idea of using a mission to get laid, it had just been a while since she’d been with someone. And being on the compound wasn’t exactly making her social life easier in that respect. She liked Steve a lot, but he was kind of like her boss, so that would never really happen. He was also completely gorgeous and kind and lovely and way out of her league, which also put a damper on things. Maybe after she was done playing pretend girlfriend to a guy who hated her, she could find someone else here in the club. At least get a couple dances in, maybe make out a little. But only if they completed the mission. In the interim, she could enjoy the feel and smell of Bucky. If it weren’t for the metal arm, maybe she could pretend it was Steve. Not a healthy choice, but here she was.

They danced for a few songs, when she felt his hand move up into her hair. It took a lot of focus not to respond to that, she loved having her hair played with, so the gentle tug so he could reposition her head and talk to her felt more erotic than it ought to have. He whispered, “Target at your 6. She’s going to the bar we went to. Should we follow?”

She moved a hand to his neck, “No, you hold back, let me approach first.” When she stepped back, she gave him a look like she’d been whispering something naughty in his ear, for the benefit of anyone looking on, and sashayed away. Bucky watched her go, and then found a piece of wall to hold up while he tried to casually keep an eye on her.

He saw her walk up to the bar, stand next to the woman. She didn’t start talking immediately, but then leaned over to say something to her. A blonde in a tiny red dress came up to him and said something, but he brushed her off to watch Wren. It was obvious she was playing it casual with the target, even if he had no way of hearing what was said, and it was in French so he couldn’t read their lips. The target got her drink first, and then promptly spilled it all down Wren’s dress. She looked like she apologized and grabbed a stack of cocktail napkins, then ran off as she shoved them at her. Wren tried to start after her, but a couple men came up to offer their assistance, so she made eye contact with Bucky, trying to signal that he needed to keep an eye on the target while she extracted herself.

He watched the target move down the stairs, but she didn’t move towards him and the exit. She turned and scurried to the back, so Bucky started moving that way. He caught Wren’s eye as he did, and she nodded minutely. He moved as quickly after the target as he could without raising suspicions. He lost her after she got to the back corridor, full of people, but heard an exit door slam at the other end. He shoved his way through the crowded hall and made it out the back, and he saw her moving towards a car at the far side of the alley. He sprinted after her now, and heard a door close behind him, giving a quick glance to confirm it was Wren. He looked back at the target and her car, she’d already made it in and looked like she was about to start it when Bucky got an overwhelming sense that something was wrong. Trusting his gut, he immediately pivoted back towards Wren, charging full-bore. Her eyes went wide as he tackled her the same moment as the car behind him exploded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Action! Drama! ADVENTURE! What do you think? 
> 
> Writing missions freaks me out a little bit, TBH, so please validate my fragile ego if you don't hate it?


	7. Chapter 7

The explosion propelled them through the air, and he felt her body tense up and then felt her force herself to relax. Smart girl, she knew it would hurt more if she was rigid.

She could hear the screaming of metal on stone as they skidded along the alley: he was protecting her head and spine with his metal arm. He tried to keep his weight off her as they stopped, and she noticed he winced a little as she huffed out air when he wasn’t entirely successful.

He was on his feet before she’d even done a full inventory of the damage. He pulled her to her feet, holding her face, “Are you okay? We’ve gotta go.”

“I’m fine, let’s…” he was already moving down the alley, taking her hand and pulling her along behind him. “Buck! You’re hurt!” There was a piece of metal sticking out of his back, low on his shoulder blade.

Her words didn’t give him the slightest pause, “No time, doll. We need to confirm the kill and disappear.”

They made it to the burning husk of the car, and bent to peek into the driver’s seat. “That’s her,” Wren confirmed, “Same jewelry.” And Bucky kept pulling her down the alley. He got them out, but saw a group of men that started heading their way. He guided them, trying to walk as quickly and calmly as possible to not attract attention, and trying to ditch the potential tail. Once they’d gotten a couple blocks away, Wren said “Buck, stop! We’ve got to get that out of you. It didn’t hit an artery, so the bleeding won’t get worse, but if it stays in it will tear up your muscles and make it harder to heal.”

“Wren, you can’t perform surgery in an alley, and I think we're being followed. Let’s just go.”

“I can get it out, I just don’t know if I can do it without people noticing. Are you a screamer, Buck?” she asked, and he just raised an eyebrow in response. “I’m going to take that as a yes to be on the safe side. I’ve got an idea, but I don’t know if you’ll like it…” She reached into her bag and pulled out a bottle of vodka.

He briefly wondered if she’d had that the whole time. “Wren, people are coming, we can’t do this here.”

“Hold me against the wall, Buck,” she instructed, and when she started to object, she insisted, “Do it now!”

He picked her up, pinning her against the wall as she threw her arms and legs around him. He felt the ice-cold vodka down his back as he realized what her plan was. He tried to simultaneously brace himself and relax, he could hear people approaching the alley, and she whispered in his ear, “Okay, on the count of three: one…two…” and then he felt white-hot pain ripping through his back for a moment. He knew he made a noise, but more of his focus was on the noise she made to cover his: right as the men made it to the entrance of the alley, they would think a couple was just finishing a quickie in the alley, instead of performing an impromptu surgery. And, from the noise she made, the imaginary sex had been good for her. He tried not to think too hard about the sound that had issued from her throat, or the feeling of how hot she was against him.

The group at the mouth of the alley seemed to just be a group of drunk men. The partiers hooted and hollered something in French, but Wren didn’t seem concerned. She whispered in his ear, “There’s a motorcycle further down the alley, I can hotwire it. The wound feels worse than I thought, will you be able to hold on for the ride?”

“I’m fine. I can handle it,” he whispered in her ear before setting her down and pretending to put himself back in his pants for the benefit of the crowd at the end of the alley. She adjusted her dress and shouted something doubtlessly rude to the men before pressing into Bucky’s side. When the men moved on, they turned down the alley, and Wren made quick work of the motorcycle’s wiring.

“Buck, you’re still bleeding a lot. Could you drive while I apply pressure?”

“What are you going to use?”

She looked down at her dress, there was clearly no fabric to spare. “I don’t think we can use anything to soak it up, I think we’d draw too much attention no matter which of us went topless. I’ll just…push on it.”

He nodded and hopped on. He felt her slide on behind him, delicately positioning herself, making minute shifts in her position before she slid her arms around his front. He winced some when he felt the pressure applied, she had one hand pushing up to hold the wound closed, and he had to assume that the soft flesh providing pressure to the other side was her breast. But now that she was settled he didn’t want to waste any time, so he slid the bike forward and started rolling out to the street. He wasn’t sure if he should focus on the distraction of her body against his or should consider the pain a distraction from her body. They drove around for a bit, to shake any potential tails, but Wren assured him they hadn’t been followed, so they parked near the safehouse and scurried inside.

Wren moved to his back as soon as the door was closed, examining the cut in better light. “The bleeding has slowed a little. Let’s get it cleaned out, I’ll bandage you up, and then you can clean up the rest of the way. I can put you to sleep for the painful parts, if you want?”

He flinched a little, “You want to use your powers on me? Not a chance, sweetheart.”

“It’s nothing awful, you’d just fall asleep, judging by how Steve reacted you’d only be out for about 15 minutes.”

He grunted and shook his head, and they moved to the bathroom. She gathered up the supplies as he peeled off his shirt, grimacing. Handing him the vodka, she said “We’ve got better disinfectants now. The rest is for you.” When he raised his eyebrow, she explained “Bottle service is a rip-off anyway, people who order it already got robbed once, this guy just got robbed twice.”

He smiled as she turned to wash her hands, but his lips turned down when he realized how completely she was covered in his blood and dirt from the explosion. Her dress was probably ruined. “Hey, I’m sorry I bled all over you.”

She gave a soft snort in response, “You’re not the first person, you won’t be the last. Here,” she had sat on the bathroom counter, and put her hands on his waist to maneuver him around so she could inspect his injury better. He was watching her dangling feet on either side of his thighs when he heard her say “Shit.”

He could feel her hands trembling a little at his back. “Is it worse than you thought? What’s wrong?”

“Oh, no, sorry to scare you, these gloves are just too big. And I need to take a few breaths, the adrenaline is wearing off.”

“Take all the time you need, doll. I don’t have anywhere else to be,” he rested his hand on her knee.

He couldn’t see her blushing as she pulled the gloves off. “Okay, Buck. This part is probably going to be the worst part. I’ve got to clean it out, and make sure there’s no other shrapnel in there, okay? Hold onto my knees and give ‘em a squeeze if you need to, but try to stay still. Actually…maybe don’t squeeze me with your left hand. You can use the counter, Tony’s good for the damages. You ready?”

He was smiling at her, even if she couldn’t see. “As I’ll ever be.”

He felt the cool jet of the wound rinse on non-injured parts first, and braced himself. He sucked in a breath when it hit the wounded part. This was just sterile saline, but it still hurt. She was muttering a steady stream of encouragement, “You’re doing great, Buck. I know it’s not fun, but it’ll be over quickly, I promise,” things like that. He wasn’t sure if it was insulting or cute, it was a little like she was talking to a child or an animal. But even the digging around in the wound wasn’t as bad as he’d thought it might be, and after a final rinse, she said, “Sorry, Buck, but I think I need to stitch it up for now. When we get back to the compound they can do a better job of sealing it, I’m sure. But with what I have here…”

“It’s okay, do what you have to do,” he grunted.

“Well, I’m pretty good with a stitch, it probably won’t scar too badly!” she tried to sound optimistic.

“I’m not exactly worried about scars, doll,” he shrugged his left shoulder, and she pursed her lips at the scars where the flesh of his shoulder met the metal of his arm.

While she was getting the next set of supplies ready, she tested the water a little, “Can I ask you a question about…it?”

“Sure, doll. I’m kind of at your mercy, you might as well.”

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. I just…do you have sensation? In the arm?”

“Well, thanks to the Wakandans, I have some feeling. I can sense where it is, so I can use it without looking. I can feel pressure, and a little bit of temperature. But I can’t feel pain.”

She moved her hand over to it, brushing her fingertips lightly on the surface, “Like this? Or only major pressure?”

“Yeah, I can feel that.”

“Sorry, I should have asked before touching you.” She withdrew her hand, and re-focused on his injured shoulder, “Okay, let’s get this part over with! Hopefully it won’t be too bad, do you want a distraction?” She might not have been able to see his face, but she guessed, “Not like that, I just meant I can talk or sing.”

“I _said_ I didn’t want you to use your powers on me.”

“I can sing without using my powers, you know. I’m _very_ popular at karaoke.”

He grunted a little laugh and shrugged. She considered for a second, then started “ _Stars shining bright above you. Night breezes seem to whisper, ‘I love you’_ …” and he barely noticed the pinch of the needle through his skin, as he wrapped himself in the familiar song from…before. He remembered dancing to it with a pretty girl who would later slap him across the face after he kissed her. And he smiled at the memory, painful though it should have been.

“All done!” she announced, taking her hands off him to start wiping the blood off. “Hopefully that wasn’t too bad. There was a waterproof gel bandage, some kind of Stark thing. It should be fine in the shower, just don’t scrub at it.”

He turned and looked down at her but didn’t back up. She was a mess, but he knew it was his fault. “Thank you. You’re quite the little bird, with that voice! I know after the way I’ve been treating you, I didn’t really deserve any of that.”

She looked up, examining his face, then shook her head, “Well, you did save my life at least twice tonight. I just hopefully kept you from getting an infection, maybe minimized some scarring.”

“I saved your life?” he was plainly confused.

“Well, during the explosion, you protected my head, neck, and spine. That hit could have gone very badly for me if it weren’t for this,” she touched the cold metal of the back of his left hand. “And I don’t imagine you did the math, but if you hadn’t taken that shrapnel…it would’ve hit me in the chest. That would’ve been a lot harder for me to walk away from.” She delicately pressed her hand to her chest over her heart, and he realized she was right: it may have been lower on his back, but she was smaller than him, and had been facing towards the explosion.

He felt his hand move automatically to cover hers while the weight of what she’d said sunk in. His eyes moved to her face, taking in her wide, sparkling eyes and her lips, just slightly parted. It was an almost out-of-body experience, he saw almost as clearly as he felt his lips move to hers. He could blame it on the adrenaline, the alcohol, the blood loss, but he knew: it was just because he wanted her.

And from the way her body arched to him: she wanted him, too.

Her lips were so soft under his. He moved his good hand up, from her jaw back into her hair, everything else feeling just as soft under his rough hand as her beautiful lips were. His metal hand held her hip gently, and he felt her fingers flutter up the plates of his arm. Normally he didn’t want anyone to touch his arm, but with her…he felt something move in him. But then her fingers wrapped around the back of his neck, and he deepened the kiss as she sighed under him. He wanted to claim every inch of her, and wanted her to do the same with him. She kept herself propped up with one hand on the counter behind her, and when he started kissing down her jaw, she threw her head back and he moved down her throat.

He felt her fingers gripping at his nape as she sighed his name. Then they stilled suddenly, moved to his chest, gently pushing at him, “Buck…no. We can’t…”

He straightened, still holding her, looking at her, waiting for an explanation. “What’s wrong?”

“I just…we’re covered in blood. We’re on a mission. We just failed a mission, actually, and haven’t reported in or even spent a moment on why our target was blown up, and not by us. We can’t…”

He backed up a step. She was right. “Okay. But, Wren, I…”

“Save it. For now, you get cleaned up, and I’ll call Steve. I’m guessing he’ll want us out of here ASAP,” she pursed her lips a little. He nodded, stroking his thumb over her jaw. She sighed, returned the nod, and hopped off the counter. She cleared out of the bathroom, giving him privacy to clean up.

Alone in the shower, Bucky was mentally beating himself up. From the moment he saw Wren’s file open on Steve’s desk, he’d wanted to know more about her. There was a candid shot, clearly taken from a distance with a telephoto lens, but she was laughing at something someone said out-of-frame. She looked so beautiful and pure. He told himself to keep his distance, someone that pure looking didn’t need someone like him in their life. But he found himself looking through her file and trying to pump Steve for information about her, and the more he heard, the more interested he became. She wasn’t some untouchable ideal. It sounded like she had every reason to be damaged, too. When it came time to decide who would make contact, Bucky almost volunteered. He’d never been on a recruitment mission before, but this time it seemed worth it…then he saw Steve’s face. And he knew he couldn’t. Steve was his best friend, he’d known him since they were kids, and he could tell if Steve was interested in a girl. And he couldn’t take that away from him.

He spent the whole time Steve was gone trying to re-frame his thoughts about Wren. Her troubled past, her nomadic ways? All the more reason she shouldn’t be an Avenger. And what the hell was taking Steve so long? When he was notified they were landing, he practically sprinted over to the hangar, worried. But there they were, strolling down the ramp, laughing and carrying a fucking _picnic_ _basket_. She was even more beautiful than he thought, seeing her smile in person, and it killed him. Plus seeing it directed at Steve? That was why he came over and yelled. He’d just decided it would be easier to get angry at both of them. Easier than having to settle for second-hand kindness.

But later, he’d heard her crying after she went back to her room. He wanted to go in and sweep her into his arms, kiss away her tears, anything to make her feel better. But he would be the _last_ person she would want to hear from. He was the _source_ of her tears, not the solution. He went back to his room and sat with his back against his door, knowing she was just feet away doing the same, and it was his fault. And then when he heard Steve’s voice at her door…well, that was the nail in the coffin. Steve was going to finally get the girl. Bucky knew Steve hadn’t made his move before the mission. But this time Bucky knew he was going to be the one left at the side of the dance floor.

Kissing her…in that moment, he couldn’t not. Her kindness was killing him. He’d been nothing but cruel to her, and she still not only tolerated him, she took care of him. And standing between her knees with the body memory of having her pushed against the wall, legs wrapped around him, getting an auditory preview of hearing her climax…it was all more than he could handle. He knew those feelings, that sound, would never get out of his head. And, as much as he loved Steve, he knew he wouldn’t be able to let her go without at least trying. Just having one sweet moment with Wren, one taste before he stepped back to let his best friend have her.

When he stepped out of the bathroom 15 minutes later, towel slung low around his hips, he found Wren gathering things near the door. It looked like she’d more or less cleaned herself up, and changed into clothes better for travel. “We’ve gotta go, Buck.”

“Is that what Steve told you?” he couldn’t keep the tinge of bitterness out of his voice.

She looked a little offended, “No, it’s what _I_ told _Steve_. Did you think anything was weird about that explosion?”

He shrugged, “It was maybe overkill.”

“Exactly: it was overkill if it was just meant to kill _the driver_. It was the right amount to kill anyone who happened to be _chasing_ the driver, much less getting into the car with her. Hydra knows we’re here, and we need to get out before they find us.”

“We could just lay low here in the safehouse. They’d never find us here,” Bucky moved to her, reaching for her. A few days locked up together with nowhere to go, no one to interfere? Sounded like heaven to him.

But she put a hand up, “And what if they find the Quinjet? They either steal it or destroy it, and then we’d have to fly coach, put civilians at risk.”

He gave her a little grin, reaching for her again, “I’m sure Tony would spring for first class…”

She let him pull her in this time, but protested, “Bucky, come on. It’s not safe. You know that.”

He brushed his thumb over her bottom lip. “I know, doll,” he said as he lowered his lips to hers. He didn’t make it as quick as he could have, but didn’t linger as long as he wanted to, either. “I’ll get dressed and clear out the bathroom, and we’ll roll.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh shiiiiiiiiiiiiii...
> 
> Turns out Bucky's not an asshole, he's just acting like a 5th grader! What do you thiiiiink? What's he gonna do about this? What's Steve gonna do? What's *Wren* gonna do?


	8. Chapter 8

Much of the flight back was silent. Between not knowing what to even say to Bucky and needing to communicate with Steve about what had happened, plus trying to scour Parisian news outlets for any details they hadn’t noticed, Wren was keeping busy while Bucky flew.

She couldn’t stop wondering: Why had he kissed her? He had been such an asshole to her before the mission. And even on the mission, his treatment of her could at best be described as “begrudging acceptance” and that was when he wasn’t shooting down every idea she came up with. He didn’t seem to give the slightest shit about her. It had to have just been the adrenaline of the moment. They’d survived an explosion, and she’d patched him up, and he was just a caveman from the 40s who wanted to show his manful appreciation with his dick.

So then why did she kiss him back? Or let him kiss her a second time? Earlier that night she’d been thinking about finding some form of human affection, was she so hard up that she’d truly go for anyone, Bucky included? Bucky was undeniably attractive, even if his hair was too long and he needed a shave. And after seeing him shirtless, she had to admit that she could get past the hobo look he was rocking. But still, she at least usually had high enough standards to not go for guys who _hated_ her. Or coworkers. And sleeping with someone because he’d saved her life was awfully weird moral territory to get into.

He did keep looking at her during the flight. Even with the speed of the Quinjet making the trip quick, it was still a fairly long time for them to be alone together, after everything that had happened. But she kept her headphones on and tried to ignore him. He made a couple efforts to speak to her, and she responded politely, but then buried her head in her work again.

When they landed at the compound, Steve barely waited for the ramp to lower before rushing to them. He swept Wren into a massive hug, lifting her off her feet and leaving her breathless. He didn’t stop babbling at her the whole time, checking if she was okay, apologizing for sending her on the mission, telling her how worried he’d been. She smiled back and assured him she was fine, maybe a little rattled, but mostly just tired. They’d made it back in 6 hours, but since Paris was 6 hours ahead, it was like she had stayed up all night long. “Besides,” she reminded him, “it’s Bucky you should worry about. He’s the one who got the worst of the explosion, and he was stuck with me trying to patch him up. You should probably get him to medical, just in case.”

“I’m fine,” Bucky grunted as his best friend turned to him. “She did a good job, I’ll be okay.”

Steve gave him an appraising look, “Well, I won’t force you to go now. But promise me you’ll get it looked at tomorrow, Buck. Just in case.”

Bucky grunted in what Steve took as agreement, and grabbed his things to head off the plane. Steve offered to help Wren with her luggage, and she gave up the fight and let him take it. There was no reasoning with soldiers wanting to be chivalrous. He walked her back to her room, and after she finally convinced him that all she needed was a shower and some sleep, he let her be.

He stood outside her door for a minute, thinking, before turning and knocking on Bucky’s. His friend answered with no shirt on, but wordlessly let him into the room. Steve got a brief look at the cut: Buck was right, she had done a pretty good job with it, even though they had tech at the compound that would have made the stitches unnecessary. He felt a little pride swell in his chest, thinking about how she’d handled a tough situation.

Bucky broke the silence, “Here for a debrief?”

“Wren gave me a pretty solid report of her side of things. I’d like your version, but you can give it to me tomorrow if you’re tired.”

“Thanks man, I am.”

“I just wanted to make sure you were okay, that the explosion didn’t ring your bell or anything. You don’t have enough brain cells to spare,” Steve teased.

It got a grin out of Bucky, “No, not this time. Wren kind of cushioned my fall.”

“She didn’t tell me that, is she okay?” Steve couldn’t keep the panicked edge out of his voice.

“She’s fine, not a scratch on her, I promise. I took good care of her,” Bucky soothed.

Steve shuffled his feet a little, “Ya know, this whole thing has me thinking…you know how Nat and Bruce kind of had…a thing going?”

Buck looked surprised, “They did? Those two? Huh. Is it still happening?”

“I don’t know, actually. They were always quiet about it, but they’ve been off doing different things for a while. I never wanted to ask Nat, don’t need to give her a reason to kill me.”

“Fair enough. Do you think he’s ever…?”

“Don’t know, don’t want to know. You’re welcome to ask, see who kills you first,” Steve offered. He shook his head for a second, then continued, “Anyway, what do you think about…dating?”

“In general? Seems like a good thing. I certainly enjoyed it, before the war.”

“No, not in general. I mean…for me. And…Wren.”

Bucky froze for a moment, “Are you two…?”

“I haven’t asked her out yet, I’ve just been thinking about it. I’m not sure. What do you think?”

Bucky knew he had to choose his words carefully, “You’re really sweet on her, aren’t you?”

Steve blushed a little, “Yeah. She’s just…”

“…something else,” he offered.

“Yeah, she really is. But…this is work, too. What if she shoots me down? Or we date and she dumps me? We’d still have to work together.”

“Why do you think she’d turn you down or dump you? You’re not the tiny guy from Brooklyn anymore.”

“Honestly, I think that guy might have had a better chance with her. He might not have been much to look at, but he wasn’t going to send her on dangerous missions and get her blown up. He would have taken care of her.”

“I don’t think Wren wants someone to take care of her, Steve.”

Steve looked at his friend for a minute, considering. “The two of you must have gotten along pretty well on the mission for you to know what she does and does not want now. I seem to recall you trying to talk me out of sending her not too long ago.”

“She did well, especially for her first mission. We…came to an understanding.”

“Good! That’s _great_ , Buck! That was kind of what I was hoping for! If I asked Wren out, and we became an item, I wouldn’t want my best friend to have a grudge against my best girl.”

Bucky couldn’t help but smile at the cruel irony of it all, “Nope, no grudge here. I never really disliked her, I just…well, water under the bridge. So, do you have a date all planned?”

They chatted like old times for a while. After Steve fussed over some date ideas, and then Bucky moved the conversation on to sports. When Bucky started to yawn, Steve left him with his thoughts, and had a little spring in his step, knowing that his best friend now approved of the girl he was going to ask on a date.

* * *

The next morning, Steve went to find Wren. She wasn’t in her room, or the kitchen. Or in any of the common social spaces, for that matter. He asked the computer to locate her, but it just said she was “out” and didn’t give any more details. Maybe she had gone shopping or something. It wasn’t worth fretting over, she had turned in her report before she got off the plane, she had no other obligations at the moment, she could do as she pleased. And he would just have to find her later. For now, he felt like getting a workout in. He felt like his luck was turning up when he found Bucky in the gym, they spent most of the morning training and sparring.

When their thoughts were starting to turn towards lunch, they looked up when the door opened. In walked Wren, looking a little sweaty. “Oh, hey guys!” she pulled her headphones out. “I’m just passing through, didn’t mean to interrupt. Carry on!”

“You’re not interrupting!” Steve insisted.

Bucky asked, “What have you been up to?”

“I went for a hike!”

“That sounds like fun!” Steve was at her side now, workout abandoned. “What brings you to the gym now?”

“Well…it’s gonna sound silly.”

“Nah, we’ve heard it all,” Bucky insisted, joining them.

“Well I have kind of a tradition. After I get out of a…situation, although I suppose I should start thinking of them as ‘missions’ now, whenever I feel safe again, I go through a kind of a ritual. I used to…well, it’s neither here nor there, but it was kind of self-destructive and didn’t make anything better,” she blushed a little, and hastily moved on. “So now I have a healthier routine. First, I start the day with a little yoga, then I go for a hike or a walk, depending on what’s around the new place. And then I give myself kind of a…spa day. I know it’s silly and girly, but it just feels like I’m washing away my troubles. Depending on how I am cash-wise, it might be getting a massage or something, and sometimes I need to change my look so there’s a haircut and some dye involved, but usually it’s just sitting at home and reading with some fancy mud on my face, try to rehydrate, things like that.”

“And here I’ve just been getting drunk,” Bucky chuckled.

“Yeah, that used to be my technique too. It’s not mutually exclusive to my way, though. And if you want to join me, I’ve got plenty of spare supplies! Your skin is looking a little dry…” she teased.

Steve asked, “So what part of your ritual involved the gym? We don’t have a masseuse on-staff, but I doubt it would be hard to convince Tony…”

“I thought I’d try out the sauna. I’ve never used one, I don’t know if I’ll like it, but it seemed like the right time to try! But really, you boys can get back to your workout.”

“Oh, I think we were about done here anyway. Do you need help with the sauna? If you’ve never used one before?” Steve offered.

“I assumed there were instructions on the wall or something. Or I could Google it. But you’re welcome to join me, if you’re done working out.”

Steve nodded excitedly and Bucky shrugged, “Sure.”

They went to the locker room, if the luxurious, spa-like space could be called that. They grabbed towels and went to their respective changing rooms, agreeing to meet at the sauna. As she changed, she started to fret a little. This was normally a day she took by herself. And sharing it with Steve and Bucky was…complicated. She’d offered to be polite, but she didn’t really expect they’d agree. Surely they’d spar, have a massive steak for lunch and a bunch of beers before passing out drunk. That seemed more like the 40s thing for men to do. And she hadn’t spoken with Bucky. That was mostly her own cowardice: she went straight to bed, and then left this morning before Bucky was likely to be awake. He didn’t seem like a “talk about your feelings” kind of guy, anyway. And Steve…she didn’t know what to say to him, either. Should she tell him about the kiss with Bucky? What would he think of her?

When she wrapped the towel around her, she had additional regrets about inviting the men. The towel was a lot smaller than she’d thought it was. But now it was too late, and she’d have to go out there either to say “oops, just kidding” or to join them, so she might as well join them.

She moved through the tiled halls until she found them, and was pretty sure she stopped breathing for a moment, and considered sprinting back and just heading straight for a cold shower. That was a whole lotta man-flesh on display. Were the towels they found even smaller than the one she got? Who _made_ these fucking things?

She caught her breath, greeted them, and followed them in, water bottles in hand. There were two long benches on the back wall to sit on, one higher than the other. Each man picked a corner on the higher bench to sit on, and she perched on the middle of the bottom bench. They kicked their feet up, and she wasn’t really sure what to do with her body. She was glad the heat explained her blush. Steve and Buck were talking anyway, discussing the workout they’d just had. She was starting to feel the sweat bead on her forehead and chest, and she took a long drink from her water, then poured some on her arms. The guys must’ve been feeling the heat too, their conversation trailed off.

She brushed some hair out of her face and rubbed her neck. She was going to stick it out, but unless she really felt amazing later, she didn’t think it was likely she’d be including this in her usual ritual. Suddenly, both men’s voices came from over her shoulders.

“Are you okay, Wren?” Steve asked at the same time as Bucky said “D’you need to lay down, doll?”

“Just a new experience! Laying down might be a good idea, but…”

“Let me guess…” Bucky offered, “towel too small?”

Steve amended, “We promise, we won’t look!”

She considered for a moment. “You _both_ promise?” she shot a glance at Bucky. To her surprise, he nodded, even if he had a cheeky smile. He and Steve both shut their eyes, and she tipped herself over. She put her head to the side Buck was on, she had more faith that Steve wouldn’t peek. When she was settled on her back, and had adjusted the towel just so, she announced, “Okay, I’m decent.”

She could feel the two sets of eyes on her. She had very strategically situated herself so neither man could see anything, she was holding the top of her towel together, and had her thighs pressed together and angled so Steve couldn’t see anything. But she was more than a little surprised that Steve _was_ trying to see anything. He wasn’t craning his neck or getting on his knees at her feet, nothing so crude and obvious, but he had dropped his head in a specific way that didn’t seem to be about the heat. And she’d heard a little grunt from Bucky’s corner of the sauna, too. _Men_. She just closed her eyes and tried not to think about it.

They just sweated in silence for a few more minutes before Wren conceded, “I don’t know if I can do this much longer. I don’t really like…” she raised her hand in the air above her and gesticulated vaguely at her body.

“Getting sweaty?” Bucky supplied, and she could hear the smirk without even looking at him.

“ _Buck_ ,” Steve warned.

“What? It’s not for everyone,” Bucky shrugged.

Wren started trying to sit up, “Well, I think it’s time for me to pop through the shower.”

“Make sure it’s a cold one,” Buck supplied.

“ _Bucky_! Here, Wren, let me help…” Steve started scrambling off the benches.

She was feeling a little wobbly as she made her way to the door, but Steve caught her with an arm around her waist. When they made it into the cool hall, the feeling of his hot, sweat-slicked skin was almost too much for her to bear, and she leaned against the tile wall, “Sorry, Steve, I just need a second.”

“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” he held her under the elbow, even with the wall at her back. He reached behind himself for a moment, then turned back. “Here, here’s some nice cold water,” he offered.

She took the fresh bottle, but her hand shook a little as she brought it to her lips, and some of the ice-cold water splashed on her chest. She gasped a little, and felt Steve’s grip on her arm tighten for just a moment. She took a long pull from the bottle, and when she finally lowered it, she noticed the intensity of Steve’s gaze. She almost gasped again with the heat of it, but all she could do was blink up at him. He moved a hand to tuck a loose lock of hair behind her ear, and she noticed he was staring at her lips. She felt her head tilt back a little, her lips part ever so slightly.

And the door next to them opened, and Bucky strode out, turning to mess with the panel to turn things off. The spell was broken.

Steve had dropped his eyes to the floor, and asked “Are you going to be okay?”

Wren shook herself a little and nodded, “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Thanks for the water.” She gave his arm a squeeze and walked off in the direction of the showers.

When she rounded the corner, Steve just sighed “Dammit, Buck.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh Buckyyyyyyy...
> 
> What do you think? I measure my worth in comments in a very unhealthy way, so tell me how you feel about where this is going! What do you think of trying-to-be-nice Bucky? What kind of date would Steve ask Wren out on?


	9. Chapter 9

Wren was in the kitchen, pulling together a lunch. After showering, the boys both claimed to still be interested in what was left of her spa day, but they all agreed food was the next step. Steve seemed a little annoyed at Bucky as they discussed their plans to meet back in the kitchen, but she brushed it off. There were always reasons to be pissed at Bucky. But after the moment she’d shared with Steve, her mind was racing a little. Was he mad that Bucky interrupted the moment? Was Steve trying to get alone time with her, and Bucky was tagging along? Had Bucky told Steve about the kiss? Maybe it was something else entirely, maybe her heat-addled brain completely misconstrued the moment? At this rate, she was even wondering if there had even been a kiss with Buck, maybe she made that up too?

Nope. She couldn’t do this to herself. She had to push all of it out of her mind. If they were all hanging out, unless she wanted to host a big sharing-of-feelings time, she wasn’t going to get a chance to talk with either of them about anything. And she really wasn’t interested in mediating whatever was going on between the two men, regardless of whether it was about her.

She normally tried to eat vegan on spa days, but the boys had balked, so she was cutting up some chicken they could put on their salads, knowing they would already complain about it simply being salads. She had a nice spread of fruit and veggies that she knew would make their meat-and-potatoes skin crawl, but whatever, they knew where the fridge was, if they didn’t like what she’d taken the time to make, they could feed themselves.

As she was putting everything on the table, she heard a commotion in the hall. Unfamiliar voices were coming toward the kitchen, and she tilted her head to try to listen and assess the situation before they arrived. She realized who at least one of the voices was just before they came through the door.

The larger man didn’t stop upon seeing her, just got right into it. “Ah, thank you for preparing a welcome feast! The bowl of meat looks excellent, I assume there’s more you’ve yet to bring out? And the ales or mead?” Thor asked.

Wren started to try to explain, “Hi, yeah, sorry, I’m not actually…”

“Well who do we have here? You don’t seem like a servant,” Loki drawled, eyes crawling all over her body.

“I am not a servant. My name is Wren, I’m…”

Thor continued, “Well if you’re not a servant, why are you making my welcome feast? And where are the others?”

“Look, this isn’t…”

“Well, little bird, don’t you look like an _interesting_ little thing,” Loki was prowling around her, and she knew why birds must be so glad they could fly away from cats. He came very close, right into her ear, while Thor was blathering on in the background, and purred, “Tell me, pet, what is it that you…”

And in a decidedly ungraceful moment, she squawked out a note and both gods collapsed, asleep. Well, good to know it worked on Asgardians.

Steve and Buck came careening around the corner, into the room, Steve shouting “Wren, what’s…”

When they skidded to a stop, Bucky laughed out loud, and even Steve had to chuckle a little. Wren just stepped over Loki and went to the fridge, “I don’t know how long they’re going to be out, but I’m still starving, and I’m not here to be their serving wench. You’re welcome to explain things to them when they wake up, I was pretty done with their shit.”

Steve strode over to her, “Are you okay? Did Loki…”

“Steve, she’s clearly fine. You should check on Thor, he’s at least going to have a wounded pride when he wakes up on the floor,” Bucky laughed, and went to pull up a seat at the table.

“I’m fine, Steve. Those two just know how to make an entrance,” she assured him. “And I’m _done_ making food.”

Steve propped Thor up against the kitchen island, and dragged Loki out of the way so he at least wasn’t underfoot, and then joined Wren and Bucky at the table. About ten minutes into their meal, there was a groan, and Thor started rubbing his eyes, before scrambling to his feet, lifting his fists in the air. Steve put his napkin down, and turned to him, trying to calm him down and welcome him.

Shortly after Thor was settled, Loki shot to his feet. He didn’t get the same treatment from Steve, but eventually they were all sorted. Steve made proper introductions, including Bucky, informing them that the new faces were members of the team, and Thor made assurances that Loki was here as his brother and an ally, not to take over the world. Again.

Thor was insistent that he talk to Steve and Tony, if Tony was around. They went back and forth for a while, before Steve agreed to take it back to his office, and call Tony. As Thor strode off, Steve went to Wren, “I’m sorry I have to cut lunch short, thanks for doing this. Can I find you later? There was something I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Yeah, you know my plans for the day. See you around,” she assured him.

Loki lingered longer than necessary, staring unblinkingly at Wren, “And can I find you later, little bird?”

“If you want another nap, you’re better off listening to someone else’s lullaby,” she sneered at him.

“Loki!” Thor bellowed to him from the hall, and he gave her a Cheshire cat grin before striding out.

When they were gone, Bucky turned to her “Well, not everyday you get to knock out a coupla gods!”

“No, let’s hope I don’t have to do it often.”

“I haven’t seen you use your powers before, how come you didn’t do it on the mission?”

“They can be…overkill. The mission kept putting us in public places, and it’s hard to control very precisely. And on normal people, it can be a little unpredictable, especially the notes that could do more damage. There’s one that, on you, it might make you nauseous, on someone else it might make them seriously ill. And what if someone is around with a condition, or a pregnant woman? I’m working on it. Training. And Tony is helping me, he’s working on some devices that should help me control and shape it. But for now, it’s better if I try to _think_ my way out of situations first.”

“Unless you’ve got a couple of immortals breathing down your neck?”

“Well, it was two of them, and no civilians. It seemed expedient.”

Bucky laughed at that. They finished their lunch, cleaned up, and started walking back to their rooms. When they got to the doors, instead of opening his own, Bucky stood there and waited for her to open hers. “Buck…was there something you needed?”

“I thought we were going to have a spa day?”

“I find it hard to believe that a man with hair like yours has much interest in personal grooming at all, much less in a spa day.”

“I do remember someone suggesting I get a haircut recently. Maybe this is the start of a whole new me?” he leaned against her door, and she rolled her eyes and opened it for him. He stumbled gracefully in, and noticed that she left the door open behind her after she came in.

“Fine. Give me a second, the stuff is in the bathroom,” she went over to one of the other doors in her room, and he followed her into the bathroom. She rolled her eyes at him, “What are you doing?”

“Can I help? I know you were pretty handy in the bathroom yesterday, I can return the favor.”

He was standing entirely too close for her to imagine he was referring to just the first aid. “Well, I did what any other team member would do: Got you patched up.”

He let it slide. “I enjoyed spending time with you in the sauna today, even if you got a little…over-heated,” he said, his voice low. He was imagining the view of her on her back, sweat beading over her chest.

“It’s what saunas are for, Bucky,” she tried to keep her voice cool. What was he doing? Didn’t say anything about the kiss, and now he’s…what even _was_ this? He just smiled a little, let her stew in the silence for a minute. She finally broke, but not how he expected. “Did you…tell Steve about, you know…us?”

“What about us, doll?”

“About how you kissed me?”

“I seem to remember there only being two people involved, and Steve wasn’t one of them.”

“Bucky, did you tell him?”

“No, I didn’t. It seemed like it was between us. Why, did you tell him?”

“No.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because I assumed you would have told your best friend.”

That threw cold water on the moment.

She tried to refocus on the spa day. Clearly what had happened between them was a mistake, and Bucky saw it now, too. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he have told Steve? “Okay, here are the things you can use. These are things you put on your face. This one makes your skin softer. This one is supposed to fight signs of aging, but you’re already ahead of the game there. This one is just a general moisturizer. This stuff is for your hair, it makes it softer but you have to rinse it out. Um…these are things for your body, this is a firming cream, I think this one exfoliates, and honestly I don’t remember about this other one, and I don’t think you’re paying attention anyway, so whatever, use the stuff or don’t,” she huffed.

“I was listening! I’ll take the moisturizing face stuff and the hair stuff. Do…uh…do I need to exfoliate? I don’t know what that means. It sounds like it hurts.”

She cracked a smile at that, “It just means it removes the dead skin cells so it’s just the soft new skin underneath. And it helps with breakouts and razor burn, but since you are over 90 years old and you don’t shave, it probably isn’t necessary.”

“Alright, I’ll skip the body stuff, then. Just face and hair. What do I do?”

She slid his chosen items to him, “Just smear it on. A little bit goes a long way with the face stuff.”

She walked out of the bathroom to the main part of her room, and started looking for a missing hair clip, through her bug-out bag and on her dresser. Suddenly, Loki appeared in the doorway, and she jumped.

“There’s no need to sing for me, little bird. I’m here in peace. I just wanted to come and get to know you better. That voice of yours has me curious.”

“Loki, I don’t recall inviting you into my room.”

Bucky stepped in, “Yeah, pal. Take a hike.”

Loki turned to him, amused at the sight of a grown man with some sort of ooze on his face, “Well hello, Sergeant Barnes, I didn’t realize I was dropping in on a party! What is that substance on your face?”

Wren explained, “We’re having a spa day, it’s when you…”

“Oh, I love a spa day!” Loki snapped his fingers and was out of his Asgardian armor and into earth clothes. “I’ve been thinking about doing something different with my hair, tell me, little bird, which do you prefer?” He snapped his fingers and his hair looked _exactly_ like Bucky’s mop, “Option one, or…” he snapped his fingers again, and his hair was the precise cut and color of Steve’s. “Option two? Oh, I know!” with a third snap of his fingers, his hair went back to his original look, and for a second she thought that was all he did. But then she heard a surprised noise from Bucky, and when she looked over, she saw that he had given Buck Steve’s haircut, although left it his natural color.

“How does that work?” she asked, refusing to submit to his games. How he picked up on the situation so quickly, she didn’t know and didn’t really want to know, so she might as well change the subject. “Is it an illusion? Is Bucky’s hair still really there, and I just can’t see all of it? Or is it really gone?”

“You can go and touch it, see what you feel.”

“Is it a spell that wears off? Or is it permanent? Do you have to maintain it?”

“So many questions, little bird! I have some questions about your little song as well, while we’re on the subject…” he took two long, quick strides towards her.

But before he could touch her, he had Steve’s hand on one shoulder and Bucky’s on the other, pulling him back. He kept his footing, and put his hands up, in a conciliatory gesture of surrender.

“Loki, I would strongly advise you to go find your brother,” Steve snapped. Loki backed out of the room without another word. Steve looked at Bucky with kind of a squint, “Did she cut your hair? It looks good.”

Wren half-turned and put a hand to her mouth to stifle the laugh she felt rising. Well she certainly wasn’t going to explain that one. “Everything okay, Steve?”

“Yeah, it’ll be fine. Just got a rundown from Thor on what…you know, it isn’t important. I take it spa day is still on?”

“Yeah, we were just getting started. I’ll show you the options,” she led him past Buck, who was still confounded by his suddenly short hair. She explained the same options she’d put before Bucky, and Steve thought about it.

“What…uh…do you think I should use?”

“You can start with this one, it’s what I was going to use on my face. And we can use this to put it on,” she held up a paintbrush.

He took the paintbrush, lightly tapping it in the clay and raising it to his cheek to daub on, but he hadn’t really gotten any on the brush. “I think I’m out of my depth, here,” he admitted.

She hopped onto the counter, taking the brush and the mask, “Come here.” He stood between her knees, looking down at her. He was so caught up in watching her, he flinched a little when the paintbrush full of cold mud hit his cheek. “Sorry, should have warned you.”

“No, it’s okay. Wren, I…”

“Hold still, or I’ll get it in your mouth, and I doubt it tastes good,” she laughed at him. He smiled back, and just…kept staring. She painted it over the planes of his face, probably being more thorough than was strictly necessary. “Tell me if it starts to burn or anything, I just realized it might be different on skin you’ve shaved, and I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You could never hurt me,” Steve said just above a whisper.

Bucky came barging in, “Well this is a cozy little scene.” He said something else under his breath and shook his head but turned and looked in the mirror before they could respond. “Look what he did to my _hair_! I look _ridiculous_!”

“Ah, Buck, you look like you used to. It looks fine!” Steve insisted.

Bucky continued grumbling, until Wren said, “It could use a little evening out from a barber, and maybe stand to be a bit longer on the sides, but it looks good, Buck.”

He looked her over, and looked at Steve, standing between her knees. “Are you two almost done?”

“I just finished with Steve, but as you can see, I have not put one on myself.”

Bucky grumbled and threw his hands up in exasperation, leaving the bathroom again. Steve looked down at her, “I think I figured it out watching you. Would you like me to put your mask on?”

“Sure! Just don’t get it on my lips or too close to my eyes, and…”

“Stop talking, or I’ll get it in your mouth. See, I’m already learning!” he grinned down at her, and gently moved her hair away from her face, before delicately passing the brush over her forehead. He made sure to take extra care around her button of a nose, even though he knew he was lingering too long, and Bucky was going to start getting annoyed again. “There. Perfect,” he announced when he was done, hoping she realized he wasn’t talking about the mask.

She picked up a hand mirror to inspect his work, “Well done, sir! If this Avengers thing doesn’t work out, I bet you could make a killing as a spa technician!” He smiled at her while she put the lid on the mask, and she asked, “Do you mind washing out the brush?” He agreed, and then she called through the door, “Buck, did you still want to do the hair thing?”

He popped back in through the door, “Doesn’t seem like much point.”

“Well, the point is still that it makes your hair softer. But if you don’t want to…”

“Okay, fine. Will you put it in my hair?”

“Sure. This might get your shirt messy, by the way. It won’t stain, it’s just kind of goopy,” she warned him, and he immediately took his shirt off.

“Ooookay then,” she tried to roll with the punches, “Well turn around, let me look at your cut while we’re at it.” He did as asked and she took a peek, “It looks like that super healing is working nicely. Did the medics look at it yet?”

“Nah, didn’t have time.”

“Such a busy schedule, I can tell. Okay, well, the goop is a little cold. Just to warn you.” She plopped something on the top of his head, and it felt deeply gross for a moment. But then he felt her fingers run along his scalp, and the feeling all became very, very pleasant. He tilted his head so Steve wouldn’t see his smile as she worked the stuff through his hair, giving him a bit of a scalp massage before she said, “I don’t think I can reach the front, you’ll have to either lower yourself down or…”

He turned around, and muttered, “This is familiar, too,” so only she could hear. He leaned down, bracing himself against the counter on either side of her legs and lowering the top of his head closer to her eye level. It gave him an opportunity to watch the rise and fall of her perfect chest, and the little twitches of her thigh muscles as she balanced on the edge of the counter and finished working the stuff through his hair.

It was over far too soon by his reckoning, but when she said she was done, he stepped back anyway. “Would you like me to do you, too?”

“No, I’ve got it. Thanks,” she returned somewhat dismissively, and she hopped off the counter and took her hair down from its bun. She worked the goop into her considerably longer hair, but didn’t get it all the way up to the roots. Both men were transfixed, watching her run her fingers through her hair. She was thankful the clay on her face hid her blush. When she finished, she turned to them and said, “That’s pretty much it. Next we wait for a bit and then clean it all off.”

“You’re not going to use the body things?” Bucky asked. Couldn’t fault the ex-sniper his attention to detail.

“Only if you two clear out of the bathroom.”

They did as asked, and she started applying the last treatments. There really wasn’t anything truly scandalous about it, she didn’t have to remove any additional clothing to do it. But with the way they watched her with her hair, she didn’t need those looks while she rubbed an oily fluid onto her legs, arms, and chest.

She came out glistening, and not wanting to risk touching anything, so she stood in the middle of the room. “Well you both are going to look so nice when this is all done! Thanks for joining me for spa day.”

“That’s it?” Bucky asked.

“Well, next we hang out for a little while. About 20 minutes. Then rinsing off, but I’m going to need a shower to get it all off, so I will kick you out for that part.”

“I feel cheated,” Bucky said.

“ _Buck_ ,” Steve admonished.

Wren just smiled. It was nice, not having Bucky hate her. It was uncomfortable, too, as she got the impression that he’d overshot the mark a bit when going from “hate” to “not hate,” and maybe gone too far into “like.” Or maybe just “lust.” But she also didn’t know him well enough to really be able to say that he wasn’t just enjoying making her feel uncomfortable, just for the fun of it.

“Well, them’s the breaks. Then, after that…I don’t know, usually it’s just me, so I usually just relax, preferably read, maybe listen to music. I kind of want to watch a movie, but…”

“What’s wrong?” Steve asked.

Bucky guessed, “But you saw someone get killed in an explosion yesterday, and you want something that will clear your mind. So no big action, no death. Just relaxing.”

She just blinked at him for a second. She would get how Steve would understand that, but _Bucky_? “Yeah, actually. I just kind of want to watch something sappy and beautiful.”

“Did you have a movie in mind?” Steve asked.

She thought for a moment, “I do, but I don’t know if either of you would be into it. And it’s a French film, I don’t know if you two are over French now. It has subtitles, so it’ll be reading.”

Bucky replied, “If it’s what you want, doll, we can handle it.”

She was pretty sure Amelie made both of them cry a little. Bucky certainly would never admit it, but she saw his eyes get wet. She did fully give up on the vegan-for-a-day thing and let them order pizza, though.

They put on a comedy after that, lightening the mood. But when Wren was starting to yawn, they all agreed to call it a night. In front of Steve’s door, she gave him a hug, and thanked him for the day. When she got to her door, she simply said “Goodnight, Buck.”

“That’s all I get?” he challenged.

“Do you want a hug?” she rolled her eyes, turning to him, and he pressed her into the door.

“I had a little more than that in mind,” he was close enough their lips almost touched.

She tried to get some space, but there was nowhere for her to go. “Buck, what are you…”

“What are you doing to me, Wren?” he asked, watching her as she just gaped at him. “What am I gonna do with you?”

He traced his fingertips so lightly up her arm, she almost couldn’t feel it. “Bucky…” she sighed, and hearing his name on her lips was almost enough to put an end to his limited resolve. He released a little huff of a laugh and backed up to his door. After one last smiling look over her body, he disappeared into the darkness of his room.

What. The. Fuck.

Her hands were trembling as she closed her door behind her. She tried to start getting ready for bed, brushing her teeth, hoping the routine would help calm her. Seeing Bucky’s eyes…what was it she’d seen there? It wasn’t adrenaline-based lust. It wasn’t convenience. It wasn’t even that weird heat you can have with someone you hate. It was…deep. It was strong. It was complicated and messy, sure. But there wasn’t just lust there. It was…she didn’t know. Like he saw her, really _saw_ her. And he _liked_ it. Maybe even…well, she wouldn’t attach the word “love” to it, that felt insane. But it wasn’t a schoolboy crush, either.

The knock at her door almost gave her a heart attack. It couldn’t be Bucky, not after that moment. Loki didn’t seem likely to knock. So that just left…

“Steve,” she almost sighed, looking up into his open, honest face.

“Hey Wren. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. Come on in,” she stepped aside to let him pass.

“I just wanted to talk to you for a minute, if that’s okay?”

“Of course, Steve! I’ve always got time for you!” she smiled up at him, knowing the smile was a little weak and hoping he’d just assume she was tired.

“I, uh…I had a really good time with you today. And my skin has never felt better!”

“You hardly look a day over 80!” she teased.

He smiled his shy little smile at her. “Thanks, I guess. Ever since you joined up, I’ve had a really good time. I was wondering if you…if you might like to go out for dinner sometime? On a date? With…me?”

She blinked. “Steve, I…”

“It’s okay if you don’t,” he tried to recover. “It’s no hard feelings, really, I get that we’re…”

She interrupted, “I’d love to go out with you, Steve.”

“You…you would?” the surprised smile that spread across his face tied her stomach in knots. He stood right in front of her, looking like he both wanted to touch her and also wasn’t quite sure what he should do now.

“Yeah, definitely. But, Steve?” she paused to gather herself. She really didn’t feel like it was on her to do this, but she had to tell him. “Did Bucky tell you everything about the Paris mission?”

“Yeah, of course, he turned his report in this morning.”

“I don’t mean the report. I mean did he, as your friend, tell you everything?”

“Yeah, of course. He said that you two got along great, that you were impressive, and he likes you a lot,” Steve wore a slightly confused smile, why was she talking about Bucky? Did she just want his friend’s approval?

“So he told you he kissed me?”

Steve was quiet for a moment. “He…kissed you? Like…in the dance club? Where you were pretending to be a couple?”

“So I’m guessing he didn’t tell you. No, it wasn’t at the club, it was after I patched him up. I’m sure it was just the adrenaline of the moment.”

He considered that hypothesis for a moment. “That can happen in intense moments, sure. But why didn’t…never mind, you can’t answer that. Why didn’t _you_ tell me?”

“Buck is your best friend. I assumed he would tell you. Plus, I don’t exactly know how HR works here. I didn’t want to get in trouble or anything.”

“No, no, you wouldn’t be in trouble, you’re not in trouble.”

“And…I don’t know. I didn’t know what you’d think of me,” she moved her hand just enough for her knuckles to brush the back of his hand. “And now…I just don’t want to be a problem for you two. I _really_ like you, Steve. But I can’t come between you and Bucky.”

He couldn’t stop himself, he needed to touch her. He knew there was a bigger issue to deal with, and he would definitely need to talk to Buck. But she just said she liked him. And in that moment, that was all he could hear. His hand went to her face, stroking a thumb across her cheekbone. All he’d been wanting for weeks now was this moment, and if she liked him, that was enough.

When their lips met, it was like someone filled his veins with lightning. The sweetness of the moment overwhelmed his senses, he was reeling, having a hard time standing upright. He felt her small hands bunching up his shirt, holding him like he was a lifeline. He wanted to smile, wanted to keep kissing her, wanted to pump his fists in the air, wanted to hold her and never let go.

After a moment (but not nearly enough time if you asked him), he broke the kiss; he didn’t want to push his luck. But seeing her smiling up at him was almost as good as the kiss itself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eh? EH? Loki's causin' mischief! Bucky seems conflicted! Steve made his move! What do you think? 
> 
> I so, so love the idea of Steve and Bucky having a spa day, wearing mud masks & everything. The mere thought of it just makes me giggle a little!


	10. Chapter 10

It was late enough that, much though Bucky hoped the person knocking at his door was Wren, he knew it was Steve. It was still disappointing to open the door and have his suspicion confirmed. Steve strode in, silent until the door closed.

“You kissed her? _Buck_!”

“She told you?”

“Why didn’t _you_ tell me?”

“I don’t know, Steve. It didn’t seem like a big deal.”

“Not a big deal? I _told_ you I wanted to ask her out, you didn’t think it was worth mentioning?”

“I haven’t seen you this excited about a girl in a long time. I didn’t want to be the one to wreck that for you.”

“Didn’t stop you from kissing her.”

“Hey now, you didn’t tell me you were sweet on her until after the mission. How was I supposed to know?”

“We’ve been friends a long time, Buck.”

“It was just a heat of the moment thing. I’d just gotten blown up, lost some blood, had a little to drink, and she fixed me up. I just…got caught up.”

“And that was _really_ all it was? You’ve been a lot nicer to her since you got back.”

“Just kissing. That’s all we did.”

“I meant…you’re not being nice because you’re sweet on her?”

“She’s good at her job. She proved that to me. She was good at surveillance, she came up with a solid plan, and when the shit hit the fan, she didn’t panic. She improvised, got that shrapnel out of me in the field, got me to the safehouse and patched me up, and got us out of there safely. And, for the record, I kissed her, and she broke the kiss. She’s a good agent, a good teammate,” Buck knew he wasn’t actually answering the question, and hoped Steve wouldn’t notice.

Steve just grinned, “Yeah, she’s pretty amazing.”

“So…did you ask her out?” Bucky tried to re-focus the conversation.

“Yeah! And she said …shit.”

“She said ‘shit’? What did you do?”

Steve was pacing now, hand pulling at his face in disbelief at his fumble, “No, I just…I asked her, and she said…well, she said she would like to, but then she told me about your kiss. And then I kissed her, and then…well, then I came here.”

Bucky chuckled at his friend, “Did you say anything after the kiss? Did _she_?”

“I just said I should probably go…she didn’t say anything.”

“How was the kiss, did she like it?”

Steve blushed and smiled at the memory, “The kiss was amazing, she’s just so…she’s amazing, Buck.”

“She’s all yours, Steve,” he clapped his friend on the shoulder, then walked over to the sink to get himself a glass of water. It didn't matter that he already had one, he just needed something to do so Steve wouldn't be able to see his face. And so he wasn't looking at that smile on his best friend's face. That smile that, as much as it made him happy for Steve, also made Bucky want to punch him.

* * *

The next morning, Wren had to force herself through her usual morning routine. Yesterday was…well, it was a lot. A wild ride of a day, mostly. The peaceful morning hike, the completely unrelaxing sauna time, the craziness with Thor and Loki, the tension with Buck, and just everything with Steve…that was the most stressful day of relaxation she could have imagined. But…Steve asked her out! And she told him about Bucky, and he didn’t freak out, he just…kissed her! But he bailed so fast, they didn’t make any further date plans, or talk about how he felt about Bucky having kissed her, or…anything, really. She wanted to find him ASAP, but also wanted to look cute when she did, so she talked herself out of running through the halls in her jammies and made herself shower and get ready. She even went a little slower through her routine, made sure her legs were nicely shaved and her hair and makeup looked good. She tried not to stress too much about what to wear, so she just picked a simple dress. She asked FRIDAY where Steve was, and the computer responded that he was in his office. Deciding to skip breakfast, worried the butterflies would do too much of a number on her stomach, she went straight to find Steve.

Unfortunately, he wasn’t alone in his office. She could hear Thor’s voice booming inside, and imagined Loki was probably there too. She figured it was best for her to wait, so she turned to head back to the common space, when Loki appeared in front of her. “Little bird! What a lovely morning surprise, were you looking for me?”

“Hardly. I wanted to talk to Steve, but if he’s busy…”

“Well you should join us,” he purred, prowling closer, backing her towards the door.

She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of herding her like that, so she turned so she could make the last few steps to Steve’s office while facing forward. She stopped at the door, and Loki was following too close so he bumped into her, and stayed looming over her shoulder.

“Wren! Hey! We were just talking about you, come on in!” Steve leapt up to offer her a chair.

“I’m fine standing. What’s up?”

“Well, we were just discussing a mission. I’d like to hear your thoughts.”

“Sure, shoot!”

“We haven’t told the whole team yet, but: Asgard has been destroyed. Thor and Loki have a ship in orbit full of refugees. We need to find a place for them to resettle.”

“Oh, Thor, I’m so sorry…” Wren started.

“Do not trouble yourself, it was not you who wrought the destruction.”

“What can I do?” Wren offered.

“Well, we’ve identified a possible site, but we need to scout it out. Do you know any Norwegian?”

“Not more than asking for a beer, and a few conversational basics, but I can learn more on the way. Is this a solo mission?”

“I was thinking I could go with you. You’re not ready to fly the Quinjet yet on your own,” Steve explained, although the explanation seemed tacked on, more for Thor’s benefit, and she smiled a little.

Loki interrupted, “I can provide transport, the little bird could be there with my piloting, and Captain America can stay on his home soil.”

Wren shook her head, “Not a chance. I’m not going to be flown anywhere by a god of mischief. Besides, if I’m going to get cleared to fly, I need more flight hours, and this seems like an excellent opportunity.”

Steve agreed, “I’d like to go with Wren anyway, get a look at the place myself.”

“I should join you,” Thor added.

Steve’s brow furrowed a little, “You should probably keep an eye on…your people. After we vet it, you can go check it out for final approval.”

Loki saw his opportunity, “Then I should join you! I have no responsibilities, here or with the Asgardians. And I would have the best knowledge of how comparable it will be to our homeland.”

Thor bellowed, “Excellent idea, brother!”

Wren was looking pleadingly at Steve, whose brow was still furrowed. “Loki, your track record here on earth hasn’t exactly been stellar. I know your brother vouches for you, but you’ve gotta understand why I’m still a little leery.”

“Well,” Loki explained, “Then this is the perfect opportunity for me to prove myself! Where is the risk? What could I possibly do to harm this mission? And even if I ruin the mission entirely, then what? You find another fishing village?”

Thor agreed, “He has a point.”

Steve was backed in a corner, “Okay. Fine. But Wren has permission to knock you out if you even slightly annoy her.”

“I would’ve even if I didn’t have permission, but thanks anyway,” she said, clearly unhappy.

“Excellent! This will be _fun_!” Loki grinned.

“Well, we’ll need a little extra time to get cold weather gear together, and there’s no particular rush. Wheels up at, say, 1200 hours?”

“He means noon,” Wren explained.

“Wonderful. I will see you then!” and Loki disappeared out the door.

Steve turned to Thor, “Even though you aren’t there, I’m holding you accountable for your brother’s actions. And you should have a talk with him about keeping his hands to himself, around earth women especially.”

Thor nodded and strode out. When they couldn’t hear his stomping footsteps anymore, Wren closed the office door. “Well, that was certainly more than I was expecting when I came to find you.”

“Oh? You were coming to find me?”

“Well, our conversation got cut off rather abruptly last night. We didn’t really get a chance to make any plans. Assuming you still want to, after knowing about…”

“Yes! Yes I do! I mean, I uh…I talked to Buck. We’re all good, he didn’t know I was…well…and he didn’t…”

Wren was a little surprised. The way Bucky had looked at her, it didn’t seem like things were _all good_. “I get it. Okay, that’s great! Did you have a date in mind, or…?”

He came over to stand in front of her, as she leaned on the wall. “Well, I was going to offer to take you out for dinner tonight, but it looks like we’ll have some unwanted company.”

“Yeah, that does put a damper on things. Well…if it makes sense, once we’ve vetted the village, we can leave him there to start preparing his new home, in advance of the rest of the Asgardians. And I think there’s a food festival in Bergen this time of year, we could swing by on the way back…”

He stepped in closer, “I’m going to retire and leave all the strategizing to you, you are clearly superior at it.”

“Well, I’m a bit more motivated to get this strategy _just_ right,” and she tipped her head up in that way Steve was starting to realize meant she definitely wanted to be kissed. The corner of his lips quirked up in that lopsided smile of his, and he put his fingers to her chin. Their first kiss was amazing, but he didn’t want to rush this one. He brought his lips to hers, only just brushing them together, their breaths mingling hot between them. She smiled, too, and the tip of her tongue ventured out to playfully test his lips. That was too hard to resist, he kissed her in earnest, and she gleefully opened to him, swaying into his chest and her fingers curling around the base of his neck.

His arms wrapped around her. God, she felt so _right_. Her soft curves pressing into him, contrasting with his hard planes of muscle. His hand moved to her hair, and when a little moan escaped her throat, he squeezed her tighter still, lifting her off the floor a little. When she was settled back on the ground, she giggled and broke the kiss. “Much though I would love to continue this, I think maybe we should get packed first,” she wrinkled her nose in regret.

“We do have until noon…”

“Then you better pack quickly! I’ve gotta run by the labs, Tony has been working on some prototypes for me, and I think this mission sounds like an excellent time to play with it!”

“Do I get to know anything about this new experiment?”

She hooked a finger in the beltloop on the outside of his hip and tugged, “It’ll be more fun if it’s a surprise!”

He smirked down at her, “Well, it’s a good thing I like surprises. You’re full of ‘em.”

“Well, if you have time before we leave, come find me, we’ll see if I can conjure up any more surprises before we go.” She raised herself on tip toe, and made to kiss his cheek, but diverted at the last second to kiss the corner of his mouth, where his lips always quirked up. “See you soon,” she added, and left Steve’s office.

Alone for a minute, he ran a hand through his hair, then over his mouth. He didn’t dare hope what surprises she had in store for him, but he had a feeling he was going to like it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this chapter and the next chapter are a little bit more scene-setting necessary stuff, but it does mean that we're getting even closer to the smut! LMK what you think!


	11. Chapter 11

Wren had a spring in her step on her way out of Steve’s office. Going on a mission with Steve was…this was going to be good! It would doubtlessly be better if Loki weren’t coming. And while she was making wishlists, if they could instead go undercover in an overwater bungalow somewhere in the South Pacific, trying to observe the quality of the sheets, that would also be preferable. But this wasn’t going to be a difficult mission, they would go and get cozy in Norway, keep Loki from trying to take over the world, look at some property, play with her new toys and stretch her powers, and then hopefully ditch Loki and go try some _brunost_ or something with Steve.

She was practically skipping when Loki’s voice sounded over her shoulder, “You seem awfully excited for our adventure, little bird.”

She maintained her pace, “Despite your presence, I will endeavor to enjoy the mission.”

He took advantage of his long legs to jet ahead of her, and walk backwards, facing her, “Ah, pet, I think you and I could have a _lot_ of fun together. I still want to hear you sing…”

He stopped suddenly, blocking her path. She dodged to move around him, but he side-stepped to block her again. She stood stock-still, “Loki, if you touch me, I _will_ hurt you.”

“You’ll change your tune, love. I bet before this trip is through, you’ll be begging me to touch you.”

“I’d say I sincerely doubt that, but that seems like a _severe_ understatement.”

“Why, too distracted by our Captain America?”

“It doesn’t take a distraction; I just don’t want you to touch me.”

“Oh, did I hit a nerve? If you’ve got surprises planned for The Captain, just imagine the surprises I could have in store for you…”

“Were you _listening_ to our conversation?”

“Well, I happened to overhear a little something…”

“The door was closed and the offices are completely soundproof. If you ‘overheard’ anything, you would have had to have been in the office with us. I was standing right next to that door, and I didn’t see, hear, or otherwise sense you coming back in. So that answers that question: you aren’t teleporting, you can just make yourself undetectable. Either you left and came back in, or you never left and made an illusion leave. And I saw Bucky with his hair back this morning, so that answered another question about your powers. And yet, you still don’t seem to know anything about mine.”

He pursed his lips before smiling a Cheshire cat grin, “Well played, little bird. But this only makes me more interested.”

He reached for her again and, as promised, she sang a note and he was out. She was tempted to experiment with other notes on Loki, as he was a demigod and it seemed like it would be less likely to kill him. But she realized that the more she used around him, the more she was giving him what he wanted. So, not wanting to give him any satisfaction, she stuck with the sleeping note and stepped around him, making sure not to touch him. Even asleep, she couldn’t trust him.

She got to the lab, “Hey Tony, Bruce! How’s it going?”

Tony greeted her, “Well there’s our little bird! You’ve got another mission already?”

Bruce piped up, “Steve told us all about it. Too bad Loki’s going, I’d keep him unconscious the whole time if I were you.”

“I can’t say it didn’t cross my mind. I don’t think Thor would be pleased with me. Although I’ve set a very clear boundary that might leave him unconscious the whole time anyway.”

Bruce asked, “What does he have to do?”

“Try to touch me.”

Tony snorted, “That’d do it, birdie. Well, we’ve got some fun new toys for you to try out!” He went on to explain the gadgets he’d engineered. Eventually he’d make them part of her suit, but they needed to be tested in the field first. This mission would be perfect, an abandoned fishing village in middle-of-nowhere Norway meant no witnesses or potential civilian casualties. Steve would be there as support, and Tony had developed a new ear bud that would work for coms while blocking out her painful notes that Steve could try. He didn’t happen to make two sets, so Loki could be a test subject or he could stay away.

Tony offered her a last chance to test it under their watch, but she told them she had every faith in them. She gathered all the doodads in a protective case and went back to her room to pack up the rest of what she needed. She had plenty of time, and since there wasn’t much likelihood of violence she didn’t really need to be super geared-up. She restocked the basics from her bug-out bag, and then moved on to…less-essential things. Now that she had a salary and very few necessary expenses, she’d splurged, replacing some of the ratty clothes that had followed her around the world. Including getting some nicer lingerie. She hadn’t anticipated this particular need coming up so soon, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to bring it along. Steve was a real gentleman, he might not want to push things, but she wanted to be prepared for her boy scout, just in case.

She had gotten her clothes ready when there was a knock on her door. She smiled to herself, and skipped over to the door, whipping it open. Her smile fell, “Oh, hi Buck. What’s up?”

“Well, I haven’t seen someone look that disappointed to see me…ever. What’s up with you?”

“Oh, sorry, I’m not disappointed, I just thought…”

“You thought I was Steve? It’s okay, I get it. He told me about last night.”

“Well, we don’t need to talk about this in the hall, come in,” she blushed, stepping aside.

“Soooooo, you and the Captain?” Bucky drawled.

“Shut _up_ , Buck! When did he even find time to tell you?”

“Last night. Pretty much right after he asked you out and kiiiiiiiiissed you,” he mocked in a sing-song voice.

“Well I guess that’s a good sign. It was almost a huge bummer, because _I_ had to be the one to tell him about how _you_ kissed me,” she chastised him.

“Hey, you say it like _that_ and it sounds like you weren’t into it…” he stepped a little closer to her. 

“Buck, what are you doing?”

“I’m just saying, you can admit it. You liked it. I was there. It doesn’t change anything with Steve.”

“Buck, _why_ are you doing this? What does it accomplish?”

He walked up close to her. Not close enough that it would raise any eyebrows, but too close given the conversation. “I just want to hear you say it.”

“You got caught up in a moment. You kissed me. I got caught up too, and kissed you back. ‘Like’ doesn’t come into it.”

“You liked it!”

“Ugh! Fine. It was not a bad kiss. So why didn’t you tell Steve about it?”

“He told me he wanted to ask you out, it didn’t seem like the right time to tell him.”

“So, what, you figured you’d let your best friend go for it and just see what happened? Or you just thought you’d let me take on the responsibility? Buck, not cool.”

“I didn’t think you’d tell him!”

“Why are you here Buck, just trying to lord the kiss over me?”

“No, Pepper sent me with cold weather gear for your mission,” he dropped the bag at her feet, now leaning inappropriately close. “The rest is just for fun.”

“Okay, ha ha, now get out of here.”

There was a knock at the door, and she told them to come in. Steve came in, and also looked disappointed to see Bucky. “Oh, uh, hey Buck.”

“Well that’s my cue. Stay safe you two. I mean…on the mission,” he leered at them and left.

Steve wiped a hand over his face, “Sorry about that, he…”

“I’m getting used to Bucky’s sense of humor. But enough about him. You all packed?”

“Yup. Even have some sandwiches for the flight! You?”

“Yeah, I’m all set! Even got some special toys!” She immediately blushed, “Oh god, I heard how that sounded as it was coming out of my mouth! I meant some things to help me control my powers, that Tony made.” She hid her face in her hands.

He laughed, and closed the distance to pull her hands away, “Hey, that’s my job, I’m supposed to be the one who trips over his tongue!” He weaved their fingers together.

“Well, I guess it balances out, then. So…if you have nothing else to do before we leave, and I have nothing else to do…what should we do?” she bit her lip a little.

And there was the head tilt. He smiled and met her lips. She used their interlocked fingers to wrap his arms around her and then moved her hands to cup his jaw.

She pulled back for a moment, “This has got to hurt your back, standing like this…”

Hands on her hips, he backed her up until she bumped into the counter and lifted her to sit on it.

She lifted an eyebrow, “Steve! Wow!”

He looked concerned, “Was that okay, should I put you down?”

“No, I liked it! C’mere,” she pulled him back to kiss him again, and wrapped her legs around him. His strong arms around her made her feel like she was melting, and his lips...heavenly.

She ran her fingers up into his hair, hoping to urge him on. His hands drifted to her hips, and she could feel him gripping her, like he was trying to control himself. Well, she wanted him to carry her to the bed and really make the most of this alone time, but this was a start. He was from another time, he might not be used to modern fast women. But they had a whole mission ahead of them, and all the time in the world after that. So she tried to slow herself down, just be excited to be making out with the most flawless specimen of manhood she’d ever met. And maybe take some pride that she could make him nervous. Next time, she was going to get his shirt off, for _sure_.

“So…Steve,” she smiled up at him.

“So…Wren,” he smiled back.

“Just want to put it out there: I can make Loki stay unconscious for the whole trip. Just saying.”

“I don’t think Thor would be very happy about that.”

“Do you think Loki would admit that I easily shut him down the whole time?”

“That is an excellent point. Although, it might be safer to wait until he steps out of line. I don’t want to deal with any retaliation.”

“Okay. I’ll let him be. But Steve…I _really_ don’t trust him. Did you know he was in your office earlier, after Thor left?”

“Oh that little piece of…”

“I know,” she cut him off. “But he…he _really_ wants to understand my powers. I don’t know what his game is, but it just _can’t_ be good.”

Steve’s voice got dark, “Did he touch you?”

“No, I haven’t let him lay a finger on me. I don’t fully understand his powers yet, either. I read up on him a little last night, but who knows what else he’s hiding.”

“I won’t let you out of my sight, Wren. I’ll protect you.”

“I’ll protect you, too, big guy,” she smiled at him. “Oh! And Tony’s got your new earplugs ready, I’ve got it with the other gadgets. You want them now?”

“We can save it ‘til we get there. But maybe let me know where they are, in case Loki starts pushing buttons in the air.”

“I’ll try not to knock you out mid-flight.”

She walked him through some features of the new gadgets, and then it was about time for them to start getting ready for wheels up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Such mischief in the air! But, guess what?
> 
> IT'S ALMOST SMUT TIIIIIIIME! Gah, I'm so excited!


	12. Chapter 12

Loki was remarkably well-behaved on the flight. Almost even pleasant, if it weren’t for the fact that he kept flirting with Wren, then trying to goad Steve about their relationship. But he remained a respectful physical distance and spent some of the time just reading. When they arrived, it was late and fully dark, so they agreed to quickly canvas and find a place to stay the night. They could stay on the Quinjet, but it wasn’t the most comfortable lodgings, and this way allowed Steve to lock Loki out of it and away from their equipment and transport. Everything was abandoned, but they found a house that seemed less worse-for-the-wear and seemed to have working gas and running water. They loaded their bags and equipment into the house, and Loki went to find a room.

When Loki seemed out of earshot, Steve turned to Wren, “I think I trust him even less when he’s well-behaved. I don’t like the idea of you sleeping alone.”

“Why _Steve_ …” she teased, wearing a scandalized expression.

“I don’t mean…I just…”

“I’m teasing you, Steve. I don’t want to push your boundaries.”

“ _My_ boundaries?”

“Well, you’re the first 90-year-old I’ve dated, I don’t really…I don’t know what your expectations are here. It seems like you’ve generally adjusted to modern life, I just…oh, this is _profoundly_ embarrassing to have to say out loud.”

“I, uh…wow. I think the world of you, Wren. I just don’t want to be disrespectful.”

“Well, then allow me to be the first to tell you: sex is not disrespectful. Wanting a woman is not disrespectful, and expressing that want, especially if you know she wants you too, is not disrespectful. You can always fall back on getting consent, consent is sexy. If you want to push things, or try something new, just ask me.”

“That doesn’t seem…awkward?”

“It’s way less awkward than not touching me because you’re afraid of pissing me off or going too far and me having to pour cold water on everything. Or finding out way later that you did something I didn’t want.”

They were both blushing terribly during this conversation. Wren wasn’t used to having to be this level of direct with the men she slept with. And Steve wasn’t particularly used to any of this. But they both managed to act like adults about it.

She thought for a moment, and then pulled him in a little closer, so she could whisper even lower, “You can also tell me what you want to do to me before you do it. That’s sexy, and if I’m not up for something, I can redirect you.”

That got a grin out of him, “Well, would it be too much for me to mention that I want to kiss more than your lips?”

She licked her lips, “Not too much at all, I’d be disappointed if you didn’t.”

They were cheek-to-cheek, whispering in each other’s ears. Steve brought a finger up to her neck, tracing along the side of her throat with the back of his knuckle. “I want to start by kissing down your neck…” he could feel her pulse speed up.

“Then what?” she asked breathlessly.

Loki loudly clomped down the stairs, and they stepped apart. “Don’t stop on my account!” he announced. “Don’t worry, I left the larger bedroom for you two. Would hate to come between the Avenger’s new power couple.”

Wren ground out “Thank you, Loki, that’s very…considerate.”

“I do try, bird.”

She tried to continue being nice, “What do you think of the place so far? I know it’s not exactly a grand palace, but will your people like it?”

“Well, I can bring the palace with me,” Loki added. He made a gesture like he was throwing confetti in the air, and suddenly it looked like the drab, dusty surroundings melted away, and the space was transformed into a glittering ballroom. Soft orchestral music could be heard from somewhere, and they could even smell delicious foods.

Wren couldn’t help but smile, “Wow, that’s a neat trick!”

“It’s a bit more than a ‘neat trick’, pet,” Loki huffed. He flicked his fingers at Wren, and she felt that princess transformation moment. It felt like momentarily diving into champagne, tiny bubbles sparkling all over her body, and when she looked down, she was in a beautiful flowing green gown. She could feel her hair was shaped differently, no longer in a utilitarian bun, but curls cascading over her shoulder. And when she looked up, she saw Loki was now in a very nice tux, hair slicked back. He stepped forward, “May I have this dance, my dear?”

Steve stepped in front of Wren, “Not a chance, Loki.”

“Oh, Steve, what’s the harm in a little dance?”

“We both know you’ve been trying to touch Wren since the moment you knew about her powers. What are you after, Loki?”

“Our little bird simply _intrigues_ me! I want to understand her powers, much as she wishes to understand mine.”

“I don’t trust y-” Steve managed to get out before a flick of Loki’s fingers made his mouth seem to disappear.

“This conversation is between the lady and myself. And I think we all know she is perfectly capable of handling me.” Loki stepped towards Wren but didn’t close the distance completely. “Little bird, I ask again: may I have this dance?”

“What makes you think I trust you any more than Steve does?”

“I don’t imagine you do, but I wish to change that.”

“Answer some questions for me, first.”

“What questions would those be?”

“Your illusions are very impressive, it’s like I can really feel the silk of the dress against my skin, but I know it’s not there. Is it a conscious effort to maintain them?”

The corner of his mouth quirked in a smile at her curiosity, “Yes and no. It doesn’t require conscious thought to maintain, I don’t have to concentrate on the silk for you to feel it. However, it seems to me that your real question is: if I lose consciousness, do they persist? Say, if a little bird sings me to sleep? The answer to that is no. Illusions outside of myself cannot persist without my consciousness.”

“What do you mean when you say, ‘illusions outside of myself’?”

“Clever bird, can’t slip anything past you, can I? But that is a question for another day. Have I earned my dance?”

“Why do you want to touch me so badly?”

He smiled broadly at this, chuckling and looking down at the floor. He moved his eyes up her body until they met hers, “What man wouldn’t?”

She scoffed, “Nice try. There is something you think you can learn about my power by touching my neck. What is it?”

“I am very curious how that gift of yours works. Is it sorcery? Is it some sort of science? And, of course, I want to know if there’s any way I could make myself immune to your particular charms.” Now he did step closer. He didn’t touch her, he just stood close enough to loom over her. Steve moved to step forward, but the floor opened and swallowed his legs up to the knees. Loki never took his eyes from hers, “I simply want to see if the skin of your pretty neck is as soft as it looks.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to believe me to dance with me.”

“True, but it does help. Alright, I will dance with you, but there are conditions. And if you violate even the _spirit_ of any of them, it will be lights out for you, for as long as I see fit. And that will be the _kindest_ treatment you get from me.”

“Tell me your conditions, pet.”

“First: You have to free Steve and leave him free to move and speak. He won’t act against you unless you step out of line.” They could see the anger in Steve’s eyes, but he nodded in agreement with Wren’s first condition. She continued, “Second: You will not touch my neck. At all. You will only touch the parts of me necessary to dance, and we’ll stick to a waltz. Third: You will not add any new illusions while we dance. Fourth: This probably goes without saying, but no harm is to come to myself or Steve.”

“Little bird, I have no intention of harming you without your _explicit_ permission. I agree to your terms.” He clapped, and from nowhere a waltz started. Steve’s mouth reappeared and the flooring peeled back from his legs as Loki stepped towards her, offering his hand. She took it, and he swept her into position to begin dancing.

He held her a little closer than strictly necessary, but not breaking the rules. After twirling through the room for some time in silence, he lowered his lips to her ear, whispering, “Oh, little bird, what are we going to do with you? Why are you wasting your time with that mortal?” She just looked aloof, and didn’t acknowledge he’d said anything. So he continued, “He might be what you think you need, but he won’t be able to give you what your heart truly desires. You want to be controlled. You want to be dominated. You don’t want to whisper sweet nothings, you want to scream in sublime ecstasy. And you know he can’t do that for you. But I think you know who can.” His grip had tightened around her. Not threateningly, exactly,

She finally said, “Loki, do you know why it’s not going to happen?”

“Tell me why you _think_ that.”

“Because I don’t think you’re a very good lover. At _all_. Regardless of what I do or do not want in bed, I don’t think you can give it to me.” She could feel his arms stiffen around her, and she knew this was a dangerous gamble, but she continued, “The people who are the best at sex are giving, and you’re too selfish. You don’t care about what anyone else wants, you just want to make sure you are adequately entertained. And I’m not interested in being anyone’s diversion. I’m not anyone’s pet, much less yours.”

The final strains of the song drifted through the air, and she stepped out of his grasp, walking to Steve and taking his arm, guiding him upstairs.

When they settled into their room, and had gotten ready for bed, Wren stood there looking out the window for a while. The Northern Lights were on full display, and she was hypnotized. She hardly even noticed Steve come back into the room until she felt him pressing into her back, arms wrapping around her. She leaned back against his broad chest, sighing in deep contentment. “It’s beautiful,” she whispered.

“I was thinking the same thing about you.” He leaned down and kissed her just below the ear and could sense the small muscles in her face move as she smiled in response.

She turned in his arms, “Do cheesy lines like that always work?”

“You’d be surprised at how effective a good cheesy line can be. Did it work on you?”

“Not really, but the kiss did,” she pulled him down and their lips crashed together. She stopped for a second, “Hold on, be still for a moment,” she instructed. She looked past him into the rest of the room and made a strange clicking noise from the back of her throat, tilting her head. After a moment she turned a little and repeated the noise. She seemed satisfied, so she turned back to Steve, explaining, “One of my new gizmos! The voice things have been working so well, but Tony came up with this,” she lifted her hair, and Steve saw a little flashing light at her hairline behind her ear. “I’d been talking about my hearing with Bruce, and we mentioned how cool echolocation was, and Tony came up with…I guess it’s kind of a hearing aid. I’m getting used to it, it’s kind of a weird new skill to get used to, but I think it’s working.” She dropped her voice to a whisper, “I, uh…I just wanted to make sure we didn’t have any unwanted spectators in the room.”

Steve felt a little dumb that he didn’t think about it earlier: if Loki could make himself invisible, that gave him the opportunity to be a real pervert. Well, even if being around her made him a little extra dumb, fortunately Wren could be clever enough for both of them. “No lurking Asgardians?”

“Nope,” and they kissed again, this time with a bit more excitement, and reckless abandon. When the heat started to rise, she mentioned, “I think we should continue our discussion from earlier…”

“Mmm…what discussion was that?”

“The one where you were telling me what you want to do to me.”

“Really? Because I was more interested in you telling me what you wanted me to do _to_ you…”

“Well, it seemed like you were off to a good start! I liked the kissing down my neck part…but I think we might be a bit overdressed for the rest.”

She pulled her shirt off as he took care of the fly on her jeans. He pulled his own shirt off as she shimmied the rest of the way out of the denim, and they were briefly enthralled by the sight of each other. She had to touch him, she ran her hands up his stomach, kissing his chest, and he unpinned her hair from its bun and raked his fingers along her scalp. Her head leaned into his hands and she let out a small moan. He backed her into a wall, lifting her off the ground and pinning her to the wall with his body. She gasped and clutched at him as he made good on his promise and kissed down her neck. He muttered little words of praise as he kissed and licked and caressed his way down, finally asking, “Well, what’s next?”

“I want to feel your lips all over me,” she urged, holding his head to her and gently scratching down his shoulder blades with the other hand. She didn’t need to support her weight; he was strong enough she might as well have been weightless. But she wanted to press her body as close to his as possible, she couldn’t stop her hands from clutching at him, her body from arching into him.

He made his way to her breasts, kissing down to her bra and then pulling them out of the lacy cups. He kneaded at her with one hand and the took the nipple into his mouth, sucking and nibbling. She started to moan, and he moved his hand to cover her mouth with a finger, silencing her. Loki could surely hear them in the next room, and who knew what he would do if he knew just the right moment to interrupt. But she just took advantage of the moment to take his finger into her mouth, sucking on it, giving him a preview that made him moan.

He withdrew his finger and practically tossed her further up the wall. Her thighs were on his shoulders and he held her ass in his hands as she leaned back against the wall. Her eyes were huge in surprised delight as he looked at her from under his long lashes with that lopsided smirk, and he moved his mouth to her. Both of her hands balled up in his hair as he went straight to her clit through her panties. He moved his thumbs to either side of her entrance, just massaging her and spreading her. She had to clamp one hand over her mouth. Just in time, too, because then he yanked her panties out of the way and started lavishing her with attention from his tongue, teeth, lips, even nose. Her hips ground her into his mouth, hand simultaneously pulling at his hair and pressing her into him. She only barely managed not to cry out as she came, shaking over him.

He lowered her gently and carried her over to the bed. She sat on the edge and kissed his stomach while she undid his belt. He ran his fingers into her hair, “Wren, you don’t have to…”

She grinned up at him, “Steve, I want to.” When she got his pants and boxers down, she gasped a little. “Wow, Steve, you’re…wow.”

“Sorry, I…”

“Oh, Steve, you _dramatically_ misunderstand me. _This_ is not something to apologize for,” she shook her head, smiling and lowering her lips to take him into her mouth. She started gently running her fingers along his shaft before stroking him. Feeling his hands running through her hair, the muscles twitching, trying to control himself. She took a glance up at him as she went to lick along his shaft and couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride seeing the look of ecstasy on his face. She reached behind her to unhook her bra, and he cupped her cheek in his hand to withdraw himself. “Steve, do you have a condom?”

He went to get one from his bag, and she shimmied out of her panties and just watched him move. She was pretty sure she was drooling, that ass should be illegal. She hopped on the bed, practically wringing her hands in excitement for him to get back to her. And she thought her heart would explode when she saw the look on his face when he turned and saw her kneeling naked on the bed. He was back to her in two long strides, enveloping her in his strong arms.

They kissed, and when she felt him shift, like he was about to lower her to the bed, she whispered, “Sit against the headboard.”

His eyebrows shot up and he smiled at the order, and then followed it. She licked her lips as she prowled over to him, and he hungrily pulled her to his lap. She kissed him as she straddled him, and reached between them to stroke him, rub his tip through her wetness. She lowered herself onto him so slowly, cradling his face in her hands. They were both consumed by the sensation of her stretching to accommodate him, they couldn’t do anything but hold each other and breathe the same air.

When she hit bottom, she sighed his name and kissed him. After taking a moment to let herself adjust, she started rolling her hips against him. She’d never felt so full, he was incredible. Her head dropped back and he ran his fingers into her hair and kissed down her neck. When he made it to her breasts she started to moan and he shushed her, chuckling. “I thought we were trying to be quiet?”

“Can’t, you’re incredible, kiss me,” she breathed, and he obliged. She started to speed up and moved in a way that rubbed her clit against him. “Oh, Steve, I’m gonna…”

He kissed her to silence her, urging her on with a hand on her hip. Her whole body tensed up and then stilled. When she relaxed in his arms, she smiled against his lips. He squeezed her, and tucked her hair out of her face, cupping her jaw. Kissing her the whole way, he laid her down on her back, never losing contact as she wrapped herself around him. He lifted himself up on his elbows to watch her as he started slowly thrust into her. They held eye contact as she gasped and writhed under him, raising her hips in rhythm with his. He took her hand, pressing it to the mattress and twining his fingers in hers.

They built a rhythm together, faster, harder, until they couldn’t hold eye contact anymore, she buried her face in his neck as she tried not to cry out as her climax crashed through her, her bearing down pulling him over the edge with her.

He tried not to put his weight on her and crush her, but he buried his face in her hair as they caught their breath. She curled around him, purring “Steve, that was…that was _amazing_.”

“Wren, you’re unbelievable, that was…”

“Yeah,” she offered.

“Yeah,” he chuckled back. He rolled onto his back, and she curled up under his arm. He opened his mouth to continue, but they heard a slow clap coming from the other room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😍😍😍 IT HAPPENED!!! Way to go, boy scout! Squeeeee! What do you think? VALIDATE MEEE


	13. Chapter 13

The next morning, they decided to divvy up the responsibilities. Steve was worried about leaving Wren alone with Loki around, but since there were no outside attackers they were worried about, she convinced him it would be fine. Besides, splitting up would help things go faster, and the sooner they finished, the sooner they could get rid of Loki. Steve was going to assess the commercial prospects: the town was small, but there were some abandoned businesses there, so he would establish what was there so they could sort out what they’d need. Wren would start going through the homes, trying to figure out which were move-in ready, which would need some work, and which might as well be leveled. She wasn’t exactly a professional building inspector, but she could make sure they weren’t full of mold and see which ones had the basic utilities functioning. She wasn’t likely to finish it all by herself, but they would stay in communication and Steve could start from the other side of town when he was done, and they could meet in the middle.

Loki eventually joined them in the kitchen, and they braced themselves against the anticipated onslaught of innuendos and other commentary about the night before. But he simply declared that he would look at the outlying areas, check out any farms or anything outside of the village. They brought an off-road vehicle he could use, and even Steve couldn’t think of a reason to deny him access to it. Wren kissed Steve goodbye and he walked with Loki to the Quinjet to get the vehicle.

Wren had mapped out the route she would use to look at the houses in the village. The solitude would also give her the chance to test out some of her gadgets. When she got to the first house, she tried her echolocation again. She’d have to talk to Tony and Scott, this version seemed to work well in simple spaces, like an open field or a mostly-empty room. But this house had a lot of upturned furniture in it, and the layout was strange, so it was too confusing. She wasn’t sure if it needed tuning or if she needed practice, so she made some notes and told herself she’d keep trying.

She got through a few more houses, and then decided to try the next gadget. It looked like an arm brace, although Tony assured her that once they got the functionality down, they could make a prettier version. She didn’t really care, but he wanted his designs to look good, so she wasn’t going to fight with him. There was an overturned dining chair, and she pointed her fist at it and made a sort of humming noise. She had to play around with how she shaped the sound: normally with singing, you use your vocal cords to create the noise, and then as it travels through the throat and mouth you can shape it with your tongue, lips, etc.. But this wasn’t normal singing, she wasn’t projecting it out of her mouth, she was trying to almost just keep it in her throat, to project it to the sensors on the collar-like gizmo she had around her neck. She it took a while before she thought she got the hang of it, and even then, it was hard to control. She could push the chair around a little, and once when she got a little frustrated she put too much force in it and it went skidding across the floor, but her goal had been to try to get the chair on four legs, so she couldn’t count it a success.

She had recorded the trials, complete with commentary, so she added a few more notes and then sent it off to the Science Bros. She continued her inspection, and it wasn’t long before the had a message back from Scott enthusiastically mocking her about her inability to set a chair upright. Bruce was very encouraging, wondering if they could improve the neural interface for the echolocation prototype. Tony launched into an argument they kept re-hashing: he wanted to implant sensors _on_ her vocal cords, and she was having none of that idea. If anything went wrong, she was worried she’d not only lose her powers but her ability to sing or even speak at all. Scott offered to get small and examine her throat in person, but it lead to too man spit-or-swallow jokes, and she didn’t see the point anyway. It was just _weird_.

When it was close to lunch, she figured she’d call Steve after the next house. She was on the upper floor when she heard the front door open. She froze for a moment: Steve hadn’t said over the comm that he was coming, and she hadn’t told him where she was.

But she heard him call out “Wren? Sorry to surprise you, I saw you come in here and thought I’d find you for a lunch break.”

“I’m upstairs, Steve!” she called back, relieved.

She met him on the landing, and he strode over and took her in his arms, kissing her soundly. “Have you inspected the bedrooms yet?” he growled down at her.

“Is this your idea of lunch?” she asked.

“It can be,” he started backing her towards one of the open doors.

She felt him lift her off the ground, walk her over to a bed. When he laid her down, he pinned her to the bed with his body, grabbing her wrists.

“What’s gotten into you?”

“Last night was lovely darling, but today you’re going to scream my name.”

“Steve, what are you…?”

“You should address me as ‘sir’.”

“Look, Steve, we really…”

He gathered both of her wrists in one big hand and reached down to swiftly spank her ass. “I said: you will address me as ‘sir’.”

She tried to heave him off her, but he was too strong. She sang a note, and he sagged over her, the illusion already melting away so that by the time she was able to roll the limp body off, it was Loki that lay next to her.

She got up, radioed Steve about lunch, and went to finish inspecting the house.

She wasn’t sure if she should even tell Steve. He might kill Loki. Would he also hold it against her? Obviously, it wasn’t her fault that Loki had come up with this stupid scheme. But would he be hurt that she didn’t immediately see through the ruse? The illusion was a good one, he even smelled like Steve. But when she thought back, there were all kinds of little giveaways, differences in the way he moved, the way he smiled. But she didn’t recognize him for who he was.

She was about to leave when she heard Loki groaning as he woke up. She stood by the front door, waiting for him to come down. He still had his proud swagger as he approached her, “I knew my little bird would be too clever for that, but I had to try.”

“Loki, if you ever do that again, I will _destroy_ you. I might not be able to kill you, but I can cause you _immense_ pain.”

“My sweet little bird, giving me dreams about you is hardly painful…”

She shrieked a note she rarely used on people, and he immediately dropped to his knees, clutching his head. He tried to stay strong, but a scream started to tear out of his throat. Wren stopped. She stepped closer and crouched down next to him. “I will not be bullied. I will not be tricked. And I will not suffer any more of your bullshit, Loki. If you try anything like this again with me or anyone else, what you just felt was just a _taste_ of what I will do to you.”

As she walked off, he at his nose with the back of his hand. She didn’t see him smile when he confirmed he was bleeding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's kind of a shorty, but the little bird gets to stretch her wings a little! Hope you like it! Comments = my love language!
> 
> I might not update over the long weekend...we'll see. I need to catch up and get more chapters in my backlog, so I should slow down for a bit. But I might get too impatient with myself!


	14. Chapter 14

As much as Wren wanted to be rid of Loki, he hadn’t exactly proven that he could be trusted on his own, so she and Steve had to skip their layover-date and just get Loki home to Thor. When they got back to the compound, word spread fast that Steve and Wren were An Item. Wanda immediately descended on Wren’s room to get the details. Wren didn’t want to give _all_ the details, but giddily gushed about how amazing Steve was. Didn’t stop Wanda from _trying_ to get the details, nor did it stop Nat from coming in and asking _very_ specific questions about Steve’s anatomy. Wren was determined not to spill, but Wanda thought getting a little alcohol in her would get some answers.

Wren tried to beg off “I’m too tired to drink right now!”

“Well, the gossip will keep!” Wanda insisted. “How about we go out dancing later this week?”

Nat agreed, “That’s perfect, we’ll do a bunch of shots, get you loose on the dancefloor, and when you’re all sweaty and craving your man, you’ll spill everything.”

“I will do no such thing! But I’m down for dancing. Is it girls-only?”

“You can bring Steve if you tell us…”

Steve appeared at the door, “Tell them what?”

Wren popped off the couch, “Hey Steve! What’s up?”

“I just thought I’d come say hi, but if you’re busy…”

“We were just leaving,” Wanda smiled, making her way to the door.

Nat added, “Friday for dancing?”

“Sounds good to me!” Wren ushered them out and turned to Steve as soon as the door shut. “So…”

He put his hand on her hips, “So…dancing?”

“They just want to get me drunk. You wanna come too? I have a _very_ small dress I can wear…”

He looked a little bashful, “I’m not much of a dancer, Wren.”

“You 90 year-olds are such fuddy-duddies. Did I mention the dress would be small?”

“That did come up, yes. How small are we talking, here?”

“Nat picked it out for me.”

“Oh. Wow. Okay. That sounds…I bet it’s…”

She raised her eyebrows and hooked a finger into his waistband, “Exactly.”

“Well, in that case, I think I can go.”

“Good! It’ll be fun! You can protect me from Nat. So…you were just stopping by to say hi?”

“Well, maybe not _just_ to say hi…” he leaned down, kissing her slowly and sweetly.

“How much time do you have?”

He checked his watch and sucked his teeth, “Only 10 minutes. I’ve got a call with…”

“I can do 10 minutes,” she said, throwing her arms around his neck and jumping on him.

He obligingly carried her to her bed. Her hand was between them, fumbling at his fly before she even landed on the mattress. He asked “You sure? You don’t want to slow down? I can…” he was cut off with his own gasp as her fingers wrapped around his shaft.

“We can stop if you want,” she offered

His answer was to yank her panties down and cover her body in his. She kissed him and guided him to her entrance. He took great pains to go slowly, but she thrust her hips up and cried out at the sweet burn as she stretched to accommodate him. She slowly lowered her hips back down, moaning “Oh god, Steve, you feel so good.”

“You’re so tight, Wren. You okay?”

“Fuck yes,” she sighed in his ear. He moved in her slowly at first, but she whimpered “Please…please…” and he wove both hands into her hair and picked up the pace. Now that they didn’t have an audience listening through a thin wall, she could vocalize as she saw fit. Her moans drove him on, and when she managed, “I’m so close…harder…harder…” and she cried out while he pounded into her, wave after wave of orgasm wracking her body, and he came deep inside her.

Later that night, when Steve had finished his work, he was back in his room, exhausted and ready to pass out. He heard a small knock on his door, and considered just ignoring it, but he heard Wren’s voice issue a small “Steve? It’s me.” He bounded over to unlock it.

“Hey,” he smiled at her, heart happy just to see her. She was all ready for bed, no makeup, hair pulled back in a messy bun, but no matter how many times he saw her like this, it always made his chest clench up a little. There was something vulnerable about her like this that he loved.

“Hey,” she attempted a smile back at him, but it wasn’t convincing.

He ushered her in to sit on his couch, taking her hand as he sat next to her, “What’s wrong? Loki hasn’t been bothering you again, has he?”

“No, I told you, I dealt with that. Um…there’s just something we haven’t taken the time to talk about yet, and we really should.”

“Anything, what is it Wren?”

“Well…this afternoon, we kind of got…caught up in the moment. We forgot to use a condom. I’m not placing blame or anything, it’s a shared responsibility…”

“No, no, this is absolutely my fault. I should have been ready. I just…”

“I have the birth control implant, and my last STD check was all clear. To get that out there.”

“Okay, good to know. I’m all clear, too.”

“There isn’t an easy way to ask this, but…do you know if the serum had any impact on your…swimmers?”

“My what?” His look of confusion dropped and his eyes got wide, “ _Oh_ …”

“I just…I want to be safe. And accidents happen. But if you have super sperm or something, I just want to know if I need to be extra careful.”

“Huh. I guess…I guess I hadn’t really thought about that. I have no idea. The serum was an experimental drug, and the scientist who created it died right after I was injected. They did a bunch of tests, but…that wasn’t one of them.”

“Okay. Totally fair. I just…it would be good to know. I’m not saying you need to run to the lab right now or anything. And who knows what kind of news you might get, I could be way off, I have no idea about how any of the science works.”

“You’re totally right. I can’t believe it never occurred to me.”

“You’ve been pretty busy repeatedly saving the world. I just gotta say…it felt so amazing this afternoon. You’re just…I…”

Steve grinned at her, “Hey now, I’m supposed to be the one who’s left speechless.”

She grinned at him, “True. I just wanted to say that sex with you has been _so_ incredible. I just don’t think I’m ready to carry a super baby right now, so let’s be careful.”

“Agreed,” he gave her hand a little squeeze. Then he pursed his lips for a moment before continuing, “While we’re here…there’s something else I want to talk about.”

“Anything!”

“This isn’t…it’s not just sex, is it? The sex has been amazing, don’t get me wrong. I just…I asked you out and we haven’t even really been on a date yet.”

She blushed, a little bashfully, “Yes, Steve. I’d certainly like it to be more than just sex. I guess I’ve just…well, I’ve been attracted to you since I first saw you. And I thought it was kind of impossible for you to feel the same way. Then it was so great just being friends with you. We’ve spent a lot of time getting to know each other already, it’s not like we needed those first couple of dates in the same way. And our circumstances are…unusual to say the least.”

“True, I guess most couples don’t get their start living in a compound with all their coworkers.”

“Or getting called to randomly go save the world.”

“That too. But…I still would like to go out on that date,” he raised his eyebrows at her hopefully.

“I would _love_ that. Just tell me when and where, and if there’s any kind of dress code, and I’ll be there!”

“Let’s go out to dinner. Just you and me. Tomorrow?”

“Perfect,” she smiled back at him. “I look forward to it. And you will come out dancing on Friday, right? It might not be a quiet, intimate _tête-à-tête_ , but it will be fun!”

“I’m not much of a dancer, is all.”

“Can you get drunk? I’ve seen you drink, but never _drunk_. Is it impossible, or just difficult?”

“It’s just difficult. I never drank much before the serum.”

“Do you _want_ to try to get drunk? I’m happy to help, do you know how much it takes?”

“We’ll see, Wren.”

“Sorry! I’m not trying to pressure you. Well, about the drinking. I am _definitely_ pressuring you to dance with me. Did I mention how small the dress is?”

“That did come up, yes,” he pulled her into his lap and kissed her. Feeling her ass rubbing against him was hard to ignore, despite being tired.

“Steve, you are so, so tempting, but I’m exhausted,” she confessed.

He chuckled, “I was about to say the same thing.”

She kissed him again, “I should get going, then. I don’t think sitting on your lap is going to get us to sleep much faster.”

“Would you like to…could you stay with me tonight? We don’t have to _do_ anything, just maybe cuddle a little?”

“To warn you, I don’t usually wear pajamas…do you think you can just keep it cuddly?”

“I’m willing to try,” he grinned at her with sleepy excitement.

“Me too!”

She giggled as he hoisted her up, carrying her like a bride to his bed. She had already brushed her teeth and everything, so she got undressed while he went to take care of his nightly routine. When he came back out, his heart warmed to see her cuddled up, with just the top half of her head sticking out from under the duvet. He stripped down to his boxers as she watched, and then slid under the covers.

“I didn’t know what side of the bed you prefer,” she said, looking at him over the poof of the pillows.

“I prefer being closer to the door, but I’m fine with whatever you like.”

“Good, I like being on the wall or window side.”

“Perfect, then!” They kissed a little more before wishing each other a good night. Wren rolled onto her side, facing away from him. He was saddened for a second, he’d kind of wanted to just watch her fall asleep. But then he felt her bump her butt into his side, wiggling it at him, and he took the hint and spooned up against her. His last thought before drifting off was a decision to not ever sleep any other way than having her curled up with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little quickie! And OH BUDDY there's going to be some good drama ahead! I'm glad I took a little extra time, I didn't write as much as I'd hoped but I got inspired on some stuff so that's even BETTER!


	15. Chapter 15

When Wren woke up, Steve was already gone. She rolled over to just keep her eyes closed and enjoy the scent of him that remained on his pillow. He didn’t seem to wear cologne or anything, but the smell of him was just so…it was impossible for her not to swoon a little when she smelled it, ever since the first time she got physically close to him, during her “audition” fight. And now that she could associate it with them getting naked and sweaty together, her appreciation for it did not diminish.

She was eventually able to drag herself away from the comfiness of his bed, and found her clothes. Of course, the boy scout had folded them and placed them on a chair he had next to his dresser. He’d also left a note on top.

_Good morning!_

_You look so beautiful when you sleep, I couldn’t bring myself to wake you. I’m going to hit the gym and then debrief with Thor about the mission. Would you be willing to meet a little early for our date? I had an idea that’s more of an afternoon thing._

_-Steve_

She couldn’t stop smiling as she read it. She sent him a quick text to let him know any time was fine with her, and asking what time and what she should wear. She quickly put her clothes on and then bolted to her room to get her gym clothes on. She didn’t expect to find him there, she didn’t know when he’d left but she would bet he was an early riser. But she had nothing better to do, and she figured super-soldier sex shouldn’t be her only form of exercise.

When she got to the gym, of course the two people who were there were…decidedly not Steve. Loki was looking at the melee weapons, trying out some daggers, and Bucky was using the weights. She nodded at Bucky and went to the mats to start stretching and warming up. She did a bit of yoga, and when she was in warrior pose, she saw Loki walking her way. She pulled her headphones out, and stood to face him. He didn’t look menacing, if anything he looked nervous. She heard a thudding crash, Bucky had dropped his weights and had moved to get in Loki’s face, intercepting him.

She couldn’t hear what they were saying, but she called “Bucky, it’s fine.” He paused for a second, then stepped aside. But he shadowed Loki’s steps over to where Wren stood.

Loki stopped well out of reach, and held his hands in front of him. He cleared his throat, glancing over his shoulder at Bucky, and then started “Wren, I’ve come to…apologize. My behavior on the mission was atrocious. You deserve respect, and I didn’t treat you that way. I don’t expect that you will accept my apology, but I do hope that, in time, I can gain your trust as a teammate and even a friend.” He watched her for a moment, and then dipped a quick bow and scurried to the door.

Bucky walked over, looking confused. “What…just happened?”

She smirked, “Either that was his next round in psychological warfare, or I broke Loki.”

He looked her over, “How did you manage that?”

She shrugged, “I taught him the true meaning of pain.”

His eyes widened, “Wow, really?”

“Yup. I mean, I still don’t trust him. And he could be plotting revenge. But, at least for now, I think he’ll leave me alone.”

“Color me impressed, doll!” Bucky smiled at her.

“Well, now you see why I don’t use my powers unless I have to.”

“If you can reduce an Asgardian to… _that_.”

“I’m not going to get too far ahead of myself.”

“Well, I’m proud of you.” He shuffled his feet for a second, before adding, “I think I owe you an apology too. I’ve been a jerk. You’re with Steve now, and I respect that.”

“ _Excuse_ me?”

“I’ll leave you be, now that you’re with Steve.”

“No, I heard you. I’m just a little confused why you think that I only deserve respect because I’m with Steve.”

“Well…that’s not…I mean…” he stumbled.

“I get what you mean. Look, I know you’re from a different time. But I’m not just Steve’s property. Just respect me. Or don’t.” She strode off towards the treadmill.

Bucky cursed himself. He just couldn’t stop himself from putting his foot in his mouth. He caught up with her, and grabbed her hand and turned her back to him, “I don’t think you’re property. I _do_ respect you. You’re a badass, Wren. I’m an idiot. I just meant…I’ll cool it with the flirting and talking about the kiss. Not because you belong to Steve, just because…you chose him.”

All she could do was look at him for a moment. What did he mean, _chose_? Bucky kissed her, sure, but then made it seem like it was just a game. Did he actually have feelings for her? “Bucky, I…”

The gym door opened, and Bucky dropped her hand and walked back to the weights. “Hey guys!” Scott greeted them, “Wren, wanna do a treadmill race? I won’t mess with the machines this time, I promise, it’ll be a fair fight!”

“Is this okay?” Steve asked, taking Wren’s hand.

“Steve, this is perfect!” she beamed. He’d found a pumpkin patch, and it was an afternoon of typical fall activities. They ate caramel apples, went on a hayride. She gleefully got to pick out a couple way-too-big pumpkins just to watch him pick them up: much flexing, and even more bending. And just a lot of hand-holding and talking. Plus, of course, some hidden making out in the corn maze. He even won her a stuffed animal at a carnival game.

Captain America was recognized, of course. Kids came up to them throughout the day, parents asking for pictures. No one knew who Wren was by sight, it wasn’t a secret that there was a new member of the Avengers, but there hadn’t been much publicity either. Steve tried to defer some attention to Wren, mostly so people would stop referring to her as “Captain America’s girlfriend” and recognize she was a person and a hero in her own right, but she demurred, happy to play photographer. She knew she would get plenty of attention eventually, but for now she wasn’t entirely ready to come out of the shadows. And it was adorable seeing Steve with all the kids, giving little inspirational pep talks, and just seeing him hold babies and toddlers in his huge arms made something inside her flutter that she didn’t realize was still there.

When they had exhausted all the fun of the pumpkin patch, they took their prizes to the car, and Steve drove them to a small Italian restaurant. The owner knew him, and gave them a private spot near the back where they were less likely to be bothered, so they could get some limited privacy. Steve had been worried that he wouldn’t know how to talk to her, now that things were romantic. She was always a good listener, and always interested in what he had to say, asking lots of good questions. Flirting was a little hard for him, so when they were friends he would just try to force himself to push romantic thoughts out of his mind until the conversation was over. Now that that wasn’t necessary, he wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself. But looking over at her warm smile, having her continue to talk about all the normal things they had before, but also do it while holding his hand across the table…it was better than he could have imagined.

She had the bright idea of getting dessert to-go, so they took it back to the compound and went back to his room to eat it. He loaned her a pair of sweatpants to change into, and they got comfy on his couch. Pretty much the second he set his plate down on the coffee table, she crawled into his lap and cuddled up to his chest. He wrapped his arms around her, feeling the warmth spread through him.

“Today was amazing, Steve. Thank you so much! Did you have fun?” she asked.

“I got to spend it with you, it couldn’t have been better,” he kissed her on top of her head.

Her hand moved to wrap around the back of his neck, and she looked up at him, “I’m sorry if I pressured you into moving faster than you would have liked.”

“What makes you say you did? I didn’t do anything I didn’t want to do. Hell, I’d been wanting to do it for a long time now, I just didn’t have the guts to go for it. Did something happen?”

“It was just something Bucky said today. It was nothing.”

“When did you see Bucky?”

“In the gym, while you were still with Thor. He and Loki were there when I got there, and then Scott came and…”

“Loki was there? Wren, are you okay, what did he do?” he looked ready to take action.

She just stroked his cheek, tried to soothe him, “He didn’t do anything. Actually, he apologized. I don’t buy it, he was acting…almost scared of me. Just part of his games. But he’s going to be moving to Norway with the rest of the Asgardians, right? So he’s probably just taking the opportunity to mess with me.”

“Actually, about that…he’s going to be staying here at the compound. For now, anyway. Thor didn’t want his mischief around while they’re trying to get settled in the new place, and I didn’t trust Loki to be on his own.”

“Shit. Well, it’s not like he’s going to be coming on missions with me. And there’s no place safer than the Avengers compound. It’s not ideal to have Loki here, but I can take care of myself.”

“Why was he acting like he was scared of you?” Steve asked suddenly.

“He…uh, well…while we were still in Norway, he…let’s just say I taught him a lesson he hasn’t forgotten. I don’t think he’s really scared, he just…”

He grabbed her wrist and kept a tight hold on it. “Why are you hiding this from me, you didn’t put this in your mission report? What happened, Wren?”

“It didn’t seem relevant to the mission report. When I was inspecting houses, he found me. He tried to trick me with his illusions, but I figured out it was him.”

“What…what did his illusion look like?” his tone had gotten quiet and dark.

She pursed her lips, not wanting to tell him but not seeing any other way around it. “You.”

He looked so _angry_. She knew he was a soldier, she knew he could fight and kill, but she was so much more used to the gentle giant who was more concerned with her feelings than anything else. It was frightening to see his face look so dark.

“But I figured it out, he didn’t do anything. And I taught him not to mess with me like that.”

“How?” he ground out.

“I used my powers on him.”

“Wren, just knocking him out for a few minutes isn’t going to teach him…”

“That wasn’t the power I used. I used the pain note.”

He blinked at her, “Okay, so you hurt him a little. But he’s an Asgardian, it’s not so easy to…”

“The pain is unbearable, I’m surprised you didn’t hear his screams. He was on his knees.”

“But still, you should have just called for me. I could’ve protected you.”

Wren was starting to get a little angry. “But I didn’t need to. I protected myself.”

“Sure, sweetie, but what if he was just…I don’t know, pretending that your power worked on him.”

She looked disgusted at him, tore her wrist from his grasp, “Don’t you ‘sure sweetie’ me! You’ve seen that my powers work on Asgardians. Why do you still doubt my abilities?”

“I don’t doubt them, I just…I’ve fought Loki before, I know what I’m up against.”

“Yeah, and now I’ve fought him and I _won_.” There was a cold silence for a second as he avoided her eyes, and she could see a muscle in his jaw twitch. “I guess I should get going, then. Unless you think I’m unsafe walking down the hall to my room?” She stood and started walking to the door.

“Wait, Wren, no,” he took her arm and gently pulled her back. “I’m sorry, please, sit. I didn’t mean it like that. You’re smart and you’re strong and I can’t even begin to understand how powerful you are. I just worry about you. This is hard for me. I haven’t had to deal with dating someone who I directly put into danger. It’s not easy for me.”

Her expression softened somewhat as she sat. “Steve, I get that. I really do. But I don’t know what to tell you, you’re going to have to get over it. You can’t baby me, it’s not fair to me or the rest of the team. You aren’t doing anything special to protect Wanda or Nat. Much less Scott or Sam, those two don’t even have powers or special training to protect them without their gear.”

He sighed heavily, “You’re right. I know you’re right. I just…I really care about you, Wren. I don’t know what I’d do if something happened to you…”

“Steve, that’s sweet, but I also need you to trust me. Both to take care of myself, and to tell you if I can’t.”

“I do, Wren. It’s just…hard. What did Loki even do when he was pretending to be me? Did he…touch you?”

“He kissed me. But he was acting all pushy and weird, so I knew something was up. I put him to sleep, and he changed back immediately. It doesn’t seem like he can maintain illusions when he’s unconscious. Also, as a heads up, if I put you to sleep at all, I promise I’m just making sure you’re really you.”

“Maybe it would be easier to come up with a code word or something?”

“Are you scared of me using my powers on you?” she tried to make the question playful, but she also wanted to know.

“No, I just don’t like the idea of kissing you and then you knocking me out to make sure I am who I appear to be.”

“Well, maybe for now, we should just keep kissing. Just so I can study more, make sure I know it’s you in the future…” she offered him a coy smile, and his bad mood evaporated.

“That seems like important work,” he agreed, pulling her back into his lap so she straddled him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked the picnic idea, but I've written a bunch of picnic dates and I wanted to mix it up a little. Also I love the fall, and all the cheesy basic bitch fall activities that come with it, so I thought that would be a dreamy first date with Cap!
> 
> I wonder what Loki is up to...*evil giggle*


	16. Chapter 16

Wren was looking herself over in the mirror, getting ready to go dancing. She felt so nervous, and she couldn’t quite place why. Other than her mission with Bucky, it had been a long time since she’d gone clubbing. Obviously she loved music, and dancing was fun, but she wasn’t as young as she used to be. And mixing alcohol and music while surrounded by people could be a potential disaster for her, she was worried she’d accidentally use her powers. Plus, this was going to be the most attractive group of people she’d ever been out with, and famous. She felt dramatically outclassed. Wanda was young and hot, so it made perfect sense she wanted to go. Pepper…well, she was used to Tony, she was perfectly capable of making herself look elegant in even the most tawdry place. And Nat…well, she was pretty sure Nat was going just to find someone she could eat alive. They’d agreed it didn’t have to be girls-only, so Wren could bring Steve. Sam wanted to come along, he just wanted to dance, and after Pepper agreed, Tony had said he would stop in. Nobody else seemed interested in the offer.

She was running a little behind, it had taken longer than she’d anticipated to get her hair just right. And getting her eyeliner perfectly even wasn’t something she’d even tried to do in a while. Plus, the dress was…very small. She hadn’t oversold it to Steve. It felt like a napkin with straps on it. But it did technically fit, and with a little bit of strategic use of body tape she had her assets corralled and covered, and she tucked extra tape into her clutch with her lipstick, and a couple other emergency supplies, just in case.

She kind of thought she looked like a hot mess waiting to happen, but as long as Steve thought it looked good, that was all she really cared about tonight. And, since they were flying into the city and then crashing at Stark Tower, if she looked _really_ good she and Steve could call it a night early.

She figured it was as good as she was going to get, and she didn’t want to keep everyone waiting any longer. She gathered herself and walked out towards the voices in the common space. When she entered, the room went silent. Wanda squealed and rushed over, breaking the spell, “ _Wren_! You look _amazing_!”

“I told you…” Nat smirked.

Sam and Bucky had been propped against the couch, and they both stood abruptly. Sam started “Well look at _you_ , birdie! Damn!”

“Hey!” Wren greeted them, blushing a little at the attention. “Where’s Steve?”

Nat responded, “We thought he was with you, and that was why you were late…”

“I wish,” Wren grumbled. Then, louder, “No, he said he had work to wrap up. I’ll go find him, I can meet you at the helipad.”

Bucky chimed in, “I’ll go with you.”

As the rest of the group went off, they went down to the offices. “I didn’t know you were coming, Buck.”

“I wasn’t going to, but I changed my mind,” he shrugged. “You look great, Wren.”

She gave him a look out of the corner of her eye. “Thanks Buck. You look nice, too.”

They made it to Steve’s office, and found him at his desk, brow furrowed dangerously low at his computer.

Wren struck a bit of a pose, and offered “Hey, Steve…”

He didn’t look up from his computer, he just grunted, “Hey.”

“You…don’t look ready to go…”

“Sorry Wren, I…” he finally looked up, and his jaw dropped. “ _Wren_ …” he sat back in his chair, “that dress is…”

“…small? I warned you!” she walked over and stood between his legs.

He wrapped his hands around the backs of her thighs, running his thumbs along her skin. “I don’t think it was warning enough…”

“Please just come with us, Steve! It’ll be so much fun, and the work will still be there in the morning,” she pleaded.

“But if I go, I won’t get any sleep, and I won’t be able to concentrate in the morning.”

Her fingers played along his chest, “Seems like there are worse reasons to miss a little sleep…”

“This isn’t fair, Wren,” he said, but he was smiling.

Bucky interjected, “You know…I’m right here.”

“Hey Buck,” Steve said without much emotion, while he raised one of Wren’s hands to his lips, kissing the palm and adding a couple more kisses to her wrist for good measure.

Wren’s lips quirked up, and she started to back away, “Well, if I can’t convince you, we should get going, don’t want to keep everyone waiting.”

Steve stood and reeled her back in, running his hand along her jaw and up into her hair, kissing her. She Leaned away before he could deepen it, “No way, mister. You only get to ruin my lipstick if you come with us.”

“Next time, Wren. I promise.”

She pouted for a moment, then moved towards the door, “Okay Buck, let’s tear it up!”

Steve finally looked at Bucky, “Take care of her.”

“I promise,” Bucky simpered in imitation of his friend.

“I think Bucky’s the one who needs care-taking. I’ll keep an eye on him, don’t you worry, Steve! Byeee!”

Steve watched them walk down the hall until they disappeared around a corner and heaved a sigh before going back to work.

As they made their way to the helipad, Buck started, “I didn’t realize you guys were so…cozy.”

She blushed, “Yeah. It was a good mission.”

“I’m a little surprised that he…uh…went for it so quickly.”

“Bucky, this seems a little more in the ‘things to talk to your best friend and not the girl he’s been with for less than a week’ category.”

“We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“Are we? Buck, you’ve been a jerk to me, and then you kissed me, act all weird, and now we’re friends?”

“I’m sorry I treated you like that. But yeah, I’d like to be your friend.”

“Why were you such a jerk?”

“I was just…I was going through something. But you’ve been good to me. And you’re good for Steve.”

She sighed, “Okay, Buck. Fine. You win.”

“ _That_ was real convincing.”

She smiled at him, more genuinely this time, “Well, I guess we’ll just have to give it a shot, see what happens.”

They got to the club and were guided directly to the VIP section. Tony and Pepper were already there, welcoming them with a round of shots. Bucky and Wren exchanged a look at the bottle service. They settled in and tried to talk over the noise. They ordered additional cocktails, and once everyone had two or three rounds in them, the ladies started grilling Wren for details.

“No. Nope. No way. I’m not telling you _that_!” Wren shook her head.

“It’s not _telling_ us; it’s just confirming our suspicions!” Wanda insisted.

Sam interrupted, “What are you talking about?”

“Nothing!” Wren blushed.

“We wanted to know what the Captain is packin’!” Nat shouted louder than necessary.

“You guys suuuuck!” Wren groaned.

Nat turned to Sam and Bucky, “Do you guys know? Seen anything in the locker room?”

Sam said, “Even if I had seen, I would never tell you. Bro code.” Bucky just shook his head.

Wren pounded two more shots and stood abruptly, “I’m done! It’s time to dance!” and she stumbled past Nat, who grabbed Wanda and pulled her out to the dance floor. They danced for a few songs, Nat fending off any man she deemed unworthy of her or her friends.

But before too long, Nat decided she needed to be drunker for this, so she went to get them another round. The guys she’d been dissuading saw the opportunity and started descending on the two remaining women. They got separated, and Wren was definitely feeling the alcohol. She wasn’t too bothered, she was a superhero, right? She could take out the two guys that had her pinned between them. She just didn’t need to. It was just dancing, right? When the guy behind her started trying to get her to take a shot, she wasn’t so drunk she was going to agree to that, she batted it away. She felt his hand in her hair, and realized he was going to try to force-feed her the shot. She whipped around, ignoring the burning in her scalp, ready to take him out.

But Bucky was standing over his body, prone on the floor. “You okay?” he grunted to Wren. People started clearing space around them, and he took the opportunity to step closer to her so he could hear her over the music.

“Is he…?”

“He’s alive.”

“I could’ve handled it…”

“I know. Do you want to keep dancing?”

She put a hand to her head, “I think I need a quick break.”

“Whatever you need, doll.” He took her hand and led her off the dance floor, getting her some water.

“It’s been a while since I’ve been out drinking,” she tried to explain.

“Doll, you have nothing to explain to me. You deserve a fun night out dancing, without assholes like that bothering you.”

“Thanks, Buck. It was a great night until…all that,” she gestured vaguely towards the dancefloor.

“It ain’t over, doll! You want to cut a rug again?” he gave her that lopsided grin that was so rare. She wondered how many girls at dances in the 40s fell in love with that smile.

She grinned back at him. “Yeah, let’s dance!” and they went back out to join Sam and Wanda. Wren found her way to another drink, but was more maintaining than trying to get wasted. Bucky stayed by her side the entire time, she was tempted to try to object, she didn’t need a babysitter. But she didn’t think he’d listen to her objections. The members of the group they danced with rotated: Pepper managed to convince Tony to hit the floor for a couple songs, but then she whispered something in his ear and they said their goodbyes and weren’t seen again for the rest of the night. Nat danced for a while, and then went to find someone, ignoring the black widow/praying mantis jokes at her back. Wren happily danced with everyone, individually and in pairs. The alcohol compelled her to explain a lot of songs to Bucky, and shout along while dancing with Sam or Wanda. Wanda begged to go to another club, but Wren was getting tired. Sam agreed to keep an eye on her, and Bucky said he’d stick with Wren, made sure she got to the tower okay.

She pulled Bucky in for a hug, “Thanks for putting up with me, Buck!”

“My pleasure, doll. Thanks for teaching an old man to dance.”

“I hardly did anything, no need to teach an old dog new tricks, you never lost it!”

“You wanna see how we used to dance?”

Her eyes lit up, “I’d love to!”

They didn’t have a ton of space, but he did his best to lead her around, even spin her a little. She started to look a little woozy, so he slowed it down, pulled her in like it was a slower dance. She leaned her head on his chest, “Women must not have drank as much in the 40s…”

Bucky laughed at that. “Well, a lot has changed since then. The dresses are a little different, too.”

“Yeah, not really my usual style.”

“Nat made you do it?”

She nodded into his chest, “Nat made me do it.”

“Well, it looks great.”

She just leaned into him, swaying with the music. He noticed she started humming a little, he felt it through his chest. It was soothing, and he felt a warmth spreading through him. It started as a calm, relaxing feeling, like a cat was sitting on him and purring. But the feeling started to change. The warmth heated up, he found he was gripping her harder. He forced himself to look around the club: the people around them on the dancefloor were kicking the sexiness up a notch. People were getting handsier, and there was a lot more kissing. He felt his hand move to her hair, and he knew it wasn’t a lack of self-control.

“Wren…your powers…” he ground out.

Her head snapped up, and she stopped humming. Her eyes darted around the room, she looked panicked. She started humming something else, and it kind of put cold water on the room. Bucky’s arms relaxed around her, and she conceded, “Maybe we should go…” Bucky nodded, and pulled her to the door.

When they made it to the tower, Bucky was trying to get her to laugh about what had happened. But she was still upset. “Bucky, I used my powers on a whole room of innocent people. By _accident_.”

“It was nothing, doll! So you made a bunch of horny people even hornier, so what?”

“Buck, come on, you know I fucked up. Ugh, I’m the worst!”

“No, you’re the best. You’re just human, you made a little mistake.”

“What if I hadn’t been humming a sexy song? What if I sang a note that hurt people? Or killed people?”

“I don’t think you could ever do that, doll,” he tried to reassure her. She sat on the floor of the elevator, legs tucked beneath her, hanging her head in her hands. He shook his head at her, “No, no, doll, you’ve gotta get up. We’re almost to our floor.”

“Nope. I’m going to die here, in a puddle of my own worthlessness,” she pouted.

He saw the elevator numbers tick up, and they were almost there. “Can’t let you do that, doll,” he gathered her in his arms, hoisting her up as the doors opened and carrying her out like a bride.

“Buckyyy…” she whined, “You should hate me right now, I used my powers on you, too.”

He tried not to think about that. “But you negated everything. What was the song you used to calm everyone down?”

She buried her head in his shoulder and mumbled, “ _Ave Maria_?”

Bucky laughed loudly at that as he carried her into a bedroom, “That would do it. It’s a little hard to kiss to.”

She chuckled a little, too, “I panicked! I needed a mood-killer, and it was the least-sexy song I could think of.”

“Well, it worked a charm. And even drunk and in a bad situation, you’re still clever.”

“But I’m an idiot for getting us in that situation in the first place.”

He gently set her down on the bed, “No, doll, you’re not an idiot. You’re one of the smartest people I know.” She grumbled in response but didn’t overtly argue. He started unbuckling her heels to take her shoes off and continued, “You didn’t do it on purpose. You didn’t hurt anyone. You solved the problem. And hey, maybe you gave someone the kick they needed to make a move! It could be the start of a love story!” He got her shuffled around and under the covers, turned on her bathroom light in case she needed it, and found a bottle of water to put on the bedside table. “What you’ve gotta do, is…” he started, but realized she was fast asleep. She was still in her clothes, and he thought she might regret that. But that level of helping would be going too far.

He sat on the bed and watched her for a moment. He didn’t know what he’d been thinking, going out dancing with them. She was so gorgeous and fun, he knew it was a mistake. He’d thought seeing her with Steve would help cool his jets, but then Steve bailed. He thought he’d been pretty successful not being too much of a creep, until that asshole tried to take advantage of her. He couldn’t let her out of arms’ reach after that, and dancing with her was the best way to keep her happy and safe. But feeling her in his arms, her dress had so little fabric that just to dance with her had his hand on the bare skin of her lower back…that was hard to fight.

Why did she start singing a sexy song? She wasn’t humming along to the song that was playing, it was some other song. He knew she had to voluntarily activate her power, and she did it while swaying in his arms. He didn’t think she had made the conscious choice to do it, she was clearly beating herself up about it. But was she singing that song because of him?

With sleep wiping the worry from her face, she looked so peaceful. Buck couldn’t stop himself from leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead, tucking her hair behind her ear. Tomorrow she’d sober up and go back to Steve. But at least he got a moment to be her hero.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, Buuuuuuck!
> 
> I think I need to switch to a more-or-less Monday/Wednesday/Friday update schedule. I've only written like 6ish chapters ahead of this one, and while I know pretty soon here we're going to have some AMAAAAZING drama that I'm excited about, I don't actually know how to resolve the drama (or what drama to move onto next), so I need to buy myself some time. But I hope you like where it goes! And I hope you like today's chapter!


	17. Chapter 17

Over the course of the next month, Wren found herself falling for Steve. He was the sweetest man she’d ever met. He got a little obsessive with work at times, but as they just lived down the hall, it wasn’t terribly difficult to find time to spend together. They hadn’t actually said “I love you” yet, but the L-word was creeping into their respective thoughts.

But she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was putting their relationship first when it came to missions, and not in a good way. There was nothing concrete that she could point to. She maybe was on the low end for number of missions she was sent on, but not unreasonably so, and she was the newest member of the team. But there was something about the missions that were assigned to her that just didn’t feel right. Like Steve was pulling his punches. She tried to talk to him about it, but he said it was just the missions they had right now, and he was assigning them based on the skillsets of the people he had available. She couldn’t argue, but she didn’t really believe him, either.

Finally, she was going on a mission where she thought she would be able to stretch her wings a little. They were going to Bangkok, trying to eliminate a Hydra agent, and they brought almost everyone with them. Bruce, Tony, and Thor were staying home, but everyone else was coming, even Loki.

Since the Norway trip, Loki had been more or less a model citizen. He had kept a respectful distance from Wren and had focused on training. He’d even worked with Bruce and Scott to give them a better understanding of his powers, and with Wanda on strengthening hers. His mischief was limited to banter and harmless pranks. Well, the pranks might not have been harmless to the average human, but they were harmless to Thor and anyone else on the receiving end. Steve sent him on a mission with Nat and Sam, and they’d reported back that he’d worked well with them, even if he was a bit annoying. And the current mission needed a lot of hands to make it work and would benefit from his illusions.

They were briefed on the plan in the air. A Hydra agent was running an illegal casino in Bangkok. It was a tactical nightmare for an extraction: in the middle of a densely populated area with civilians everywhere, the building had what felt like dozens of points of egress, it was heavily guarded at all of them, and the agent never left the security of the building. It wasn’t impossible, but after substantial recon, it was clear that it wouldn’t be viable to do this subtly. Talking to him wouldn’t work, and they couldn’t pretend to be delivering a pizza and just throw him over a shoulder. So the plan was for Wren and Loki to go in first, from separate entrances, just pretending to be patrons. Their powers made them best-suited to get early crowd control taken care of: Wren could move through the crowd, hum a tune that motivated people to leave, and Loki could create illusions to get any stragglers out the door, and draw guards where they wanted them. Everyone else was supposed to mark specific exits, clearing any guards that came their way, and then when Steve gave the signal, they’d move in, sweep the building until they found their mark.

Except…Steve ordered Wren to retreat to a distance after the attack started. She tried to argue: she could be so much more than crowd control. She had her new gadgets, plus she was getting better at the gun range, and even without that, there would be a lot of close-quarter hand-to-hand that she was well prepared for. Steve shut it down and continued the briefing, looking anywhere but at his fuming girlfriend. He brought up the layout of the building, and went over possible locations of the target, observed guard locations and movements, and other factors they needed to consider

When he dismissed everyone to get ready before landing, she was not about to let it slide. Everyone was getting as far away from Steve as they could, knowing the explosion was imminent and not wanting to be collateral damage. She descended on him, “Steve, what the _fuck_?”

“Wren, this is not up for discussion. We all have our roles to play in this mission.”

“Why is my role just to cause a distraction and then abandon the team?”

“You aren’t abandoning anyone. You are falling back strategically. And getting civilians to safety. Your role is the most important.”

“Loki could do it on his own. And Loki isn’t ‘falling back strategically.’”

“Loki is immortal. And besides, you’re the newest at this.”

“No, I’m not! Loki is!”

“And, again, Loki is immortal.”

“Steve, this is bullshit and you know it.”

Steve had looked exasperated up to this point, but now he looked angry. “Wren, right now I’m not your boyfriend, I’m your commanding officer, and you will obey orders. And you will not talk to me like that.”

She was shocked at this change in him, but she couldn’t give up so easily, “Is it really my commanding officer making this strategic decision to bench a member of his team for no reason, or is it my boyfriend trying to keep me safe?”

His posture slumped a little, his face softening. “Please, Wren, just do what I’m asking here. Get people out, then get yourself out.” He squeezed her shoulder and kissed her on the forehead before walking to the cockpit.

Wanda waited a beat to approach before giving Wren a hug. Wren kept her lips pursed, trying not to cry. She returned the hug briefly, trying to suck it up. “I should probably go get dressed. Could you help me with my hair?”

“Oh sweetie, of course. Are you sure you don’t want to talk?” Wanda asked.

“I just wish he would…no. I can’t do this now. After we get our guy, we can talk.”

“You’re too sensible for your own good sometimes, Wren. But when we get back, we’ll lock the boys out of the common space and eat dessert and drink until we explode,” Wanda promised.

Nat came up from behind Wren and added, “Do you want me to talk to him?”

Wren shook her head, “No, there isn’t enough time before we land. We’ll have plenty of time to make the whole flight back terrible for him.”

Nat smiled back at her, “Sounds like a plan!”

Wren gave them both a squeeze and went to the back of the plane. Since she was supposed to look like a normal illegal casino-goer, she had a sort of fancy/slutty dress to get into and needed to do hair and makeup. She had weapons hidden on her, of course. And Tony had already started to modify some of her gadgetry to look like jewelry. They were short on time, but she made the quick change, and Wanda helped get her hair sorted while she finished her makeup and made final adjustments.

When they landed, she waited with Loki on the tarmac for their respective rides. He stood out of arm’s reach, just out of deference, but did say, “You look stunning, Wren.”

“Thank you, Loki. That’s a nice suit,” she said somewhat stiffly. He’d been well-behaved, but that didn’t mean he was trustworthy.

“For what it’s worth, I think Steve is making a mistake with you. He may think he’s protecting you, but he’s wasting your talents by not including you in more of the mission.”

She could feel her teeth grinding a little. “It’s not my decision to make. He’s the leader of this mission, not me.”

“Well, I simply wanted you to know that if you were, for some reason, forced to disobey his orders, I would support your efforts. For the sake of the team,” he grinned a little at the last sentence.

She couldn’t help the corner of her mouth quirking up in return, “Noted.” He was the God of Mischief, of course he’d support her disobedience. And it could be for his own ends. But it was hard not feeling slightly vindicated. Their transports rolled up, and they went their separate ways.

Wren entered through the main doors, making an effort to be noticed. It didn’t really come naturally to her at this point, since she’d spent so much time avoiding attention, so she just tried to do the opposite now. But she couldn’t scare people off, so being ostentatiously mean wouldn’t work because she wanted people to be closer to her so they could hear her song. And, since the room was mostly men…sexy was the best route. Her dress was low-cut and while it was floor-length, the slit on her thigh went up to her hip. It was fortunate that Tony and his team thought very creatively about accessories, because pretty much everything else on her person was some kind of weapon. And she saw Loki when she got in, she couldn’t let her eyes linger on him, but she knew he was there.

She did her best to flirt with everyone. It didn’t hurt that she knew Steve could hear everything she did. She made a big production of going to the bar, making sure someone would offer to buy her drink. And then went to the dice table. It had the benefit of being the table that most guys wanted a “lucky charm” (that happened to have a nice rack), plus it was centrally located in the room. With the domed ceiling, the acoustics could make sure that if she stood just so, much of the room would be covered in her voice. She also subtly used her powers to influence how the dice fell. She didn’t have strong enough control over her power to make every roll a winner, but a couple close calls turned into great rolls, proving her worth as a lucky charm.

When enough people had gathered closer to see what was going on, she started humming low and slow. It wasn’t one specific song that she was going for, it was kind of a mash-up. Really, she could sing or hum whatever she wanted: it wasn’t the tune that mattered, it was the emotion she was feeling and putting into it. She could be outwardly raging to the most extreme death metal she could think of, but if she was thinking about sweet things, people would feel bubbly and happy. Of course, it made it easier to focus her emotions if the song matched what she was going for. So tonight she was singing songs of home. Any song she could thing of with the word “home” in it, or feelings of homesickness, or the comfort of the familiar. She didn’t want people to suddenly flee scared, they didn’t want to start a panic yet. Just for people to suddenly feel more sentimental than motivated to gamble, so they’d decide to call it a night.

Slowly but surely, people started filtering out. She had to move around, as she couldn’t maintain a conversation while she hummed. It also helped spread the feeling. When they had a steady stream of people leaving, with even more settling their tabs at the bar, she signaled the rest of the team and they got in position. Then it was Loki’s turn to take over.

She heard shouts coming from the back of the room, she didn’t speak Thai, but she was pretty sure they were saying “Fire!” There were large braziers around the perimeter of the room, and Loki had made it look like a tapestry had fallen into one, and that a fire was quickly spreading around the wall. People started rushing towards the exits, and the guards rushed to try to put the fire out. Of course, since it wasn’t real, their efforts were ineffectual, and the fire only grew.

Wren saw one guard say something into his wrist, and then dart back into one of the back halls. She searched the chaos for Loki, expecting him to go in pursuit. Instead, when he caught her eye, he just raised an eyebrow at her and inclined his head after the departing guard. He was telling her to go after him. She squinted at him suspiciously, but when he just grinned, she shook her head with a smile and scuttled after the guard. She was wearing perilously tall heels, and the dress was mostly held on by a prayer, so rushing after him wasn’t the easiest, but she managed. She tried to keep her echolocation going, it wasn’t terribly effective in the maze of hallways, so she stopped and just turned up the volume on her earpiece and turned off her comm. It helped her get the drop on one person rushing down an adjoining hallway, she knocked him out quickly and quietly and moved on. She could still hear the man she was pursuing, so she sprinted as best she could, but then she heard a scuffle. She rounded the corner and saw Bucky standing over her quarry’s unconscious body.

“Wren, what are you doing here? Weren’t you supposed to…?”

“Dammit, Buck! He was going after something or someone, I was in pursuit! Now I don’t know where he was headed, this place is a maze.”

“Shit. Okay, well, he was headed that way from this junction, we can at least start heading that way,” he nodded his head down one of the corridors.

They didn’t need to sprint in the same way, now that they weren’t following anyone, and they had to slow down to eliminate some of the doors they passed. She asked FRIDAY over the comm to see if there was any way to narrow down the options from the intel they had on the place. Or at least to not waste their time clearing broom closets. The computer gave her instructions of a likely possibility up ahead, about 20 feet, on their right, and she relayed it to Bucky. They only made it about 5 feet before the lights suddenly went out, and they were plunged in pitch black.

“Fuck,” Bucky muttered, and moved to turn on the light he had attached to his gun, but she put her hand on his shoulder.

“No, Buck, it’ll make us too easy to spot. Anyone coming into the hall will know exactly where we are, it would be like painting a bullseye on ourselves.”

He turned to her voice and moved a hand through the dark to find her, latching on her shoulder. “Even my sight isn’t worth shit in this pitch darkness. Either I need to turn on a light or we should get out of here, Wren. I can’t keep you safe if I…”

“I can do this, Buck. Please.”

He didn’t need to see her face to know the look she was giving him right now. And even the imaginary version, he couldn’t say no to. She needed someone to believe in her. “Okay, tell me what to do, Wren.”

“I’ll find the door, just let me go first. And try not to shoot me.”

He smiled, even if she wouldn’t see it, “I think I can manage that. Here,” he stepped aside and guided her in front of him. She took his hand, and started walking, making a strange noise. He started to say something but she shushed him, and continued forward.

Buck could hear footsteps, and then she squeezed his hand, let go, and he heard a quick scuffle before she took his hand again and whispered, “Watch your step!” and he could hear the proud smile in her voice. They continued forward, stepping over the body, and after a bit she stopped. He bumped into her a little, and she turned to him to whisper, “The door is just ahead of us. It’s pretty soundproofed, but not perfectly sealed, so I can tell there are multiple people in there. All male, I think one is speaking German but I just can’t hear well enough.”

“German? You think this is our guy?”

“I can’t imagine who else would be speaking German in a locked back room of a Thai casino when the building is supposedly on fire.”

“This is a kill mission. The easiest approach from here is for me to just kick the door in and start shooting.”

“Agreed. God, I hope I’m right.”

“If you say it’s our guy, Wren, I believe it. You ready?” he asked

“You head in, I’ve got your 6,” she assured him.

God, he wished he could see her face right now. But a brief moment passed, and her hands were on him, making her weird noise again and positioning him in front of the door. “Okay, let’s do this.” He braced himself, turned his light on, and then kicked the door open.

It was over in a flash. It felt like an eternity, but between the moment Bucky started shooting to the moment he stopped, it was just a few seconds. Since he had neither the luxury of time nor sight, he just strafed the entire room, sweeping back and forth, and then stopped to listen for any remaining movement. There was a lantern in the room, but their eyes needed a moment to adjust from the darkness and then the blinding muzzle flash. In that time, Wren heard a slight movement to her right: a guard must have been posted just inside the door, out of the way of the bullets, and was now closing to attack Bucky. Wren didn’t hesitate, she went for the man, who whipped towards her. It was only when she felt a burning in her arm that she realized he had a knife. But Bucky had heard the action and quickly snapped the man’s neck.

He could see in the dim light of the lantern that the knife was still lodged in her arm, “Shit, Wren, hold still. Don’t try to take it out. I can…” he started to move to help her, but she stopped him.

“Clear the room and check for our target,” she assured him, trying her best to stand tall. Wren turned her comm back on, and heard Steve demanding people report in. He’d heard the gunfire, but it wasn’t possible to track where it was or who was involved. “Steve, I’m with Buck. FRIDAY can give our location. I think we got him, Bucky is confirming now.”

Steve’s anger came in loud and clear, “God DAMMIT, Wren! I told you to fall back!”

Buck snapped, “Well it’s a good thing she didn’t, because she led me right to our guy. The kill is confirmed. It appears to be his office, if you want to look at any of the…Wren!”

“Bucky?” Steve shouted over the comm. “What happened? Report!”

Bucky responded, “It’s Wren, she’s been stabbed. It’s just the arm, but it might have nicked the artery, she looks like she’s losing a lot of blood.”

It was the last thing Wren heard before everything went dark again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bit of a long chapter, hope you liked it! I probably should have broken it into two chapters but I didn't want to bust up the action. I hope y'all are hanging in there okay! Writing missions isn't my strong point, so LMK what you think!


	18. Chapter 18

Eyes still closed, Wren heard Steve shouting “Loki, what the hell were you thinking? Why didn’t you stop her?”

“She was closer, I wouldn’t have gotten there in time,” she heard Loki counter.

Steve continued, “Then why didn’t you report back to me that she was going rogue?”

She tried to keep her face still, but it was hard not to react. Bucky chimed in for her, “She was hardly going rogue, Steve. She followed a lead no one else had the opportunity to act on.”

“I haven’t even started with you, Buck. You should have sent her back, kept her safe.”

“She didn’t need me to keep her safe. If anything, she would’ve been better off if I hadn’t found her. I may have had the kill shot, but that was only because she wasn’t packing the right kind of heat.”

“Didn’t need you to keep her safe? Bucky, she was _stabbed_ , it hit an artery! She _clearly_ wasn’t safe, she could have died!”

She finally opened her eyes and sat up, “Steve, I…”

He rushed to her, skidding to a stop next to her on his knees, hands moving to her face, “Wren, thank god you’re okay! I was so worried!”

“This scratch? Pfft,” she tried to brush it off, but it was over-casual. She realized she either had lost more blood than she’d thought, or they had sedated her.

“Don’t joke like that, babe, that could’ve…”

She cut him off, “But it didn’t. I’ll be fine. I’ve been in worse shape before.”

He was caressing her face and hair, looking at her with such adoration and worry in his eyes it made her heart skip a beat. But then he said, “Wren, you can’t just charge off like that. We could have handled it.”

That snapped her back out of the mushy feeling. “Eventually. _Maybe_. But Steve, I saw a guard disappear, I _knew_ he had to be heading to the target.”

“I know what happened, Loki and Bucky told me. But we would have found the guy eventually, Wren. It didn’t have to be you, and you didn’t have to disobey an order.”

Bucky chimed in, “You saw those tunnels, Steve…”

Wren sat up, looking confused, “What tunnels?”

Bucky explained, “When the lights came back on, we saw that the room we raided had a secret set of stairs leading to an underground tunnel. We didn’t have it on our floorplan, but it explains how we never saw him leave.”

Wren was a little hazy, but not so bad she couldn’t do the math, “So if we’d taken much longer, he would’ve escaped through the tunnel, and we would have lost him?”

Steve tried to argue, “We can’t know that, Wren. Bucky could have gotten there in time on his own.”

Bucky shook his head, “No, Steve, I couldn’t have.”

Steve was starting to look angry again. “Still, Wren: you _have_ to follow orders. You don’t get special privileges because you’re my girlfriend.”

“But that’s enough reason for you to treat _me_ different? I go on fewer and less-dangerous missions than anyone else. And when you can’t avoid sending me, you just have me in a sexy dress, getting people out of the way and then leaving? Why don’t you _trust_ me, Steve?”

“I _do_ trust you, I just worry about you,” he explained.

“But that’s the thing: you don’t trust me to do the right thing. You don’t trust me to keep myself safe. You don’t trust me to handle things. Maybe if you’d just always partnered with me so you didn’t have to worry, I’d believe you. But you don’t. You don’t trust me, and you don’t believe in me, Steve.”

“No, Wren, that’s not…”

Wren’s voice got small, “Just leave me alone, Steve. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.” She laid back down on her side, protecting her injured arm and shutting herself off to him.

Steve tried to gently roll her over without touching her arm, “Wren, please, I…”

But he felt Nat’s hand on his shoulder, “Leave her be, Steve.”

* * *

When they got back to the compound, it was early evening. Wanda ushered Wren inside, and Nat hung back to give shouted orders that no one was to come into the common space for the rest of the evening. They were allowed to go to the kitchen for food, but if they didn’t immediately vacate, she’d make them regret it. Scott pleaded to be included in the evening, that he could be a distraction, help get Wren laughing, but Nat shut him down with a glare.

Wren got herself cleaned up and had the medics give her another look before retreating to take a shower and change into comfy clothes, with some help from Nat. When she made it out into the common space, Wanda had it ready as a girl’s night paradise. There were cushions on the ground, and every surface seemed like it was covered in snacks, many of the chocolate variety. There was a little booze but given Wren’s injury and the pills they gave her for the pain, it didn’t seem prudent to get drunk.

They talked, told funny stories, ate, and tried to keep Wren distracted until she was ready to talk. Finally, it caught up with her. “I just…I don’t know what to do. I’m crazy about Steve. He treats me so well when it’s just the two of us, and it really feels like…well, I don’t know if I’m ready to drop an L-bomb yet, but I’m close. But I don’t think I can do this, I don’t think I can be his girlfriend _and_ an Avenger. Not while he’s in charge.”

Nat asked, “Are you going to break up with him?”

“I dunno. But I don’t know what choice I really have here. We keep having this same conversation, tonight is just when it came to a head. It feels like I can be his girlfriend or I can be a full member of the Avengers, but not both.”

Wanda tried, “Maybe he could step aside as leader? Or share the responsibility with someone, so it’s not him making all the choices about you?”

“I don’t think he’d go for it. And I can’t ask him to do that, anyway, not after all the work he’s put in…”

Nat shook her head, “No, I don’t think he’d step down, either. But, Wren, what if you break up and he still does the same things, still babies you? He’s not someone who turns off his feelings so easily.”

Wren finally let the tears fall, “I don’t know. I’m damned if I do, damned if I don’t, huh?”

Wanda gave her a careful hug and Nat squeezed her hand.

* * *

Steve stayed up too late trying to write up his mission report. He couldn’t get everything Wren said out of his head, it felt like a broken record in his mind. He knew she was right. He _was_ treating her differently from everyone else on the team. He just didn’t know how to stop himself. With Peggy, he was scared for her, but he had no say in what she did. With Bucky…it was different with Bucky. He’d always admired Bucky, wanted to be like him, and while it crushed him he couldn’t save Bucky when he fell, he’d never thought it was his job to _protect_ him, exactly. Not in the same way. But he was in charge of Wren. It was his job to make safe choices for all his team, but he wasn’t _in love_ with all of his team.

Oh. Wow. He hadn’t really admitted it to himself before. But he loved Wren. And, hard though it was for him to admit, that meant he was going to have to start treating her differently on a professional level. He’d figure out a way to be more objective. Maybe even he could give her a more strategic role in planning missions, she had a great brain for that part of everything, she’d shown it even when he was doing recon on her.

He still wanted to force himself to finish his write-up, and he knew he should give her space tonight, and let her sleep, so he got back to work. But he was almost excited to apologize, because he saw a path forward. And because he couldn’t wait to tell her he loved her.

After some time, there was a knock at his office door, and his heart soared when he saw Wren there. He leapt up and ran around his desk to her, taking her hand, “Wren, I’m so sorry. You were completely right, about everything.”

“Oh, Steve, really? You mean it?”

“Yeah, sweetheart, I’ve been so unfair to you. I shouldn’t be benching you like I have been. And I totally see how it seemed like I didn’t believe in you. But it’s just because…it’s because I love you.”

She gasped, and smiled, “Oh, Steve! I love you, too!”

He gleefully moved to kiss her, but she winced when her arm got jostled. He apologized and kissed her on the forehead. He started, almost babbling, “I swear, I’ll do better, I’ve got some ideas already, but I want you to…”

“Don’t even worry about it, darling. Everything will work out just fine. I was upset earlier, but I love you, and everything is fine,” Wren reassured him.

“Really? You seemed more than a little upset…”

“I know, I just…I’m pretty tired. But we’ll talk later.”

“Oh! Yes, of course you’re tired! It was quite a day. Do you need help? I’m almost done here anyway, I can call it a night and…”

“No, I can make it by myself. I’ll see you around though, we’ll talk some more.”

“Of course. It’ll be better, Wren, I promise. _I’ll_ be better.”

“Goodnight, Steve.”

“Goodnight, Wren. I love you.”

He watched her all the way down the hall. That was the woman he loved. She was intelligent, and kind, and beautiful, and strong. And she was forgiving. And if she could put up with his ridiculously stupid idea of chivalry, he needed to hold on to her with both hands.

Down the hall, Wren looked back at Steve and gave a little wave before disappearing around the corner. She took a few more steps, then stopped, listening. Then Wren melted away, and Loki had a spring in his step as he walked off down the corridor.

* * *

The next morning, Steve came to Wren’s door. He had a tray full of breakfast for her, ready to serve her breakfast in bed, on a cart so it could feel like room service, because he knew she’d get a kick out of that. He knocked excitedly, hoping he wasn’t too early or too late.

She opened the door, groggy and red-eyed. “Steve? What are you doing here?”

“I made you some breakfast! Go on, hop back in bed, I’ll serve you!”

“No, Steve, I’m not…we should talk.”

“Oh! Of course, here, just let me…” he rolled the cart in the door and went with her to the couch. “Okay, let’s talk.”

“Steve I…I can’t do this.”

“I know I…wait, what?”

“I can’t just move on like nothing happened. I can’t do this. I can’t be your girlfriend and an Avenger.”

“Last night, you said…”

“I don’t think you believe in me. It might seem a bit harsh, and I know your heart is in the right place. But…if I have to choose between being your girlfriend and being an Avenger, I have to choose being an Avenger.”

He didn’t know what to do. How did things change so quickly? What happened? He reached for her, “No, Wren, no you don’t have to…”

“But I do, Steve! We can’t keep having this argument! And if I’m going to be an Avenger, I can’t be sidelined. So if you feel like it’s necessary to protect your girlfriend, and sidelining me is how you do it, then I can’t be your girlfriend.”

Tears started to pool in her eyes, and his heart broke all over again. He cradled her face in his hands, “It doesn’t have to be like this. Please, Wren, I can change, I can do this, _we_ can do this, I lo…”

She put her hand to his lips, “Please don’t, Steve. I can’t…”

“Then _don’t_ , Wren. Stay with me. Love me. Please,” he pulled her face to his, kissing her, trying to make her feel what he felt. He knew she loved him, why was she doing this, why the change of heart? She relented, kissing him back, moving her hands to him. But he moved to hold her, wrapping his arms around her, and she cried out, pushing him away and clutching at her arm. “Oh, god, Wren, I’m so sorry, I just…”

“No, Steve, I know you didn’t mean to. But…we shouldn’t.”

“Wren…” he begged.

“I think you should go. I’m really sorry, Steve.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Peeks out from behind fingers* I'M SORRY!
> 
> I know, that was a bit of a ride...it broke my heart to write it, too. And the drama doesn't end there, folks! DUN DUN DUNNNNN


	19. Chapter 19

Wren listened at her door for a moment, and heard Steve knock on Bucky’s door and go in. She had never fully figured out how good super soldier hearing was, so after she heard the door shut, she turned on some music fairly loud and burst into tears.

Was she making a huge mistake? No one had ever made her feel like Steve had before. He was the best boyfriend anyone could hope for in so many ways. He was ceaselessly kind, gentle, considerate. Maybe _she_ just wasn’t cut out to be in any sort of relationship? Maybe she was just creating problems that weren’t really there because she was starting to feel a little claustrophobic?

Now _that_ was something she hadn’t fully let herself think about. She’d been living at the compound for a couple months now. It wasn’t the longest she’d stayed in one spot, but it wasn’t the shortest either. And the month she’d been with Steve was wonderful, but living together made it feel very serious very fast. And her nomadic lifestyle hadn’t exactly been conducive to relationships like this. She hadn’t lacked opportunities, and had really liked some of the people she’d dated. It broke her own heart to have to leave a couple of them. But when it came down to it, she knew leaving was the only right thing to do.

But now she was in the opposite situation. She _couldn’t_ leave, and she didn’t _want_ to leave. She loved being an Avenger. Her friends here were fast becoming family, something she’d never really known before. She never knew her biological family, her foster homes at best weren’t the warmest, and she never stayed in one place long enough to know true friendship. Even if she had, she couldn’t trust anyone with her secrets before. But now she had people who cared about her, knew her biggest secrets and not only didn’t mind, but celebrated her. Even if she was going on dangerous missions, she felt safer here than she ever had before.

Steve was integral to all of that, there was no sense in denying that. And even if they hadn’t said the words before, they loved each other. He was why she felt so safe. He was the one who’d made her feel like she wasn’t a freak, she was special. He had given her nothing but patience and understanding, and here she was repaying him by dumping him because he was being _too caring_? Sure, they’d need to work on how that manifested as her boss. But they could do it.

She was wracked with waves of guilt. She’d messed this up. It was a mistake. She needed to find him, apologize, beg for forgiveness. They could work through this issue, she knew they could, she just had to stop being so scared, stop running from her problems. She shut the music off and went to get ready, she’d only barely rinsed off the blood last night, so she needed to properly wash her hair and clean off the general grossness of the mission. She did it as quickly as she could, and then went out to find something to wear. Was it too over-the-top to wear a sundress she knew Steve loved? It was cold out, but she didn’t intend to wear it for long, hopefully just long enough to beg for Steve’s forgiveness. She was about to ask FRIDAY where Steve was when there was a knock at her door. She was tempted to not answer it, she didn’t want to waste time with other people comforting her for a mistake she wanted to remedy. Worrying it could be Steve, she rushed to the door, flinging it open despite still just being in a towel.

“Steve! Thank god, please, come in! I wanted to say…” Wren started, heart beating a thousand miles an hour.

“I think you’ve done enough talking, don’t you?” Steve spat at her.

“Steve, I’m so sorry, I…”

“No, Wren, _you_ listen to _me_. I just couldn’t let you get the last word. Our relationship was doomed from the start. I wasn’t sending you on easy missions because I was protecting you, I did it because I didn’t think you could handle it. And this last mission proved it: you made a stupid decision and you got hurt. Well, fine, if that’s how you want it: I’m done babying you. I’ll send you on more missions, on _harder_ missions. Go ahead and get yourself killed on one of them, it’ll only prove me right.”

She was completely shocked. “Steve, I don’t understand, I wanted…”

“Oh, what are you gonna do about it, Wren? You know exactly what I’m talking about. I brought you onto the team because I thought you were cute. But if you can’t appreciate me saving your life, this is done.”

“Why are you doing this, Steve?” her voice was so small and hurt.

“Because I’m done with _you_ , Wren.” And with that, he left, and she just stood there in stunned silence as she heard his footsteps move away from her down the hall.

Wren collapsed on the couch. How was that the same man she’d been falling in love with? The same sweet man who counseled her during her first few tough days? She had seen how angry he could get through their work, but she’d never seen it directed at her, they’d never had a real fight before. She wanted to cry, but she was too shocked.

Loki came skidding into her still-open door, “Wren, are you okay? I heard Steve…”

She just looked up at him, eyes wide, face completely stricken. She couldn’t even form words.

“Oh, darling, I’m terribly sorry, come here,” he shut the door and went to her on the couch, wrapping his arms around her.

They hadn’t become friends, not after how things started between them. But Loki had left her alone. He hadn’t given her any more reason to distrust him, so she hadn’t hurt him again. Steve had done his best to keep them apart, for her safety, but right now she would take anything she could get. He gently stroked her wet hair, mumbling words of comfort to her. That she didn’t deserve to be treated like that, how powerful and strong and clever she was, how Steve had always had a temper.

She sat back, brushing the tears away that had finally started to fall, and adjusting the towel to secure it around her. “Thanks, Loki. I just…I don’t know what happened. I had already broken up with him, but I’d regretted it, I wanted him to take me back! But then he…he…”

“He was cruel.”

“I’ve never seen him like that! He’s always been so sweet and gentle…”

“He does have quite a temper, though. I’m so sorry you had to see that.”

She sighed heavily. “Well, thank you for checking on me, Loki.”

“Of course, darling. I know we got off on the wrong foot…”

She quirked an eyebrow through her tears, “The wrong foot? Is that what you’d call it?”

“I _did_ overstep, and I apologize for that. I do hope that we can be friends.”

She looked at him for a moment, trying to understand where the trick was. “Loki, that’s very sweet, but I don’t know…”

“Wren, I…courting in Asgard doesn’t work the same as it does on Earth.”

“Oh, Loki, if _that_ was courting…” she quirked a little bit of a smile.

“Well, in a sense, yes. But I understood my mistake after seeing you and Steve together. And I understand _his_ mistakes as well.”

“Loki, I broke up with Steve less than an hour ago, and he broke my heart even more recently than that. I can’t even…”

“No, no, I understand, of course you can’t. I just wanted to give you a couple things to think about when you have time.”

“Oh?”

“Well, the first is that from the moment I first saw you, I could feel how powerful you are. I’ve never for a moment lacked faith in your abilities. You _astound_ me,” he confessed.

She didn’t know how to respond. She couldn’t know if this was all part of some bigger ploy or if this was the first time he’d ever been genuine with her. He _looked_ like he meant it, but looks meant nothing with Loki. “What’s the other thing?”

He leaned closer, and wiped at her tears. His hand moved to her jaw, back into her hair. And he kissed her. She was so surprised, she just sat there for a moment, eyes wide. If she’d anticipated this at all, she would have guessed he would have been rough, demanding, selfish. But he was gentle, almost tentative. After everything that had happened in the last 24 hours, her head was swimming. She felt herself opening to him, felt a sigh bubble up from her chest. Her senses came back to her, and she put a gentle pressure on his chest, pushing him away, and he respectfully sat back.

 _Respectfully_.

 _Loki_.

He gave her a little grin, “Well, as I said, I just wanted to give you things to think about. Good day.” And he simply stood and left.

* * *

Wren spent most of the week avoiding Steve. She confided in Nat and Wanda about what had happened with Steve, but left out the part about Loki. She still didn’t know what to make of that. Nat was ready to destroy Steve, but she was so confused. She’d known Steve since he’d come out of the ice, but even she couldn’t account for what he said to her, it was so out-of-character. In their extensive discussions, all they could figure was that she’d struck a nerve when she broke up with him. Or maybe this was an extension of his desire to protect her, he thought that hurting her would some how keep her safer? They couldn’t figure it out.

She spent a lot of time with Scott and Bruce in the lab. It got her away from the main part of the compound, she was less likely to run into Steve or Loki, and she was still trying to heal from being stabbed so she couldn’t exactly train. Plus, Scott was always good for a laugh and a distraction, and Bruce was kind, even if he clearly didn’t know how to handle an upset woman. It provided a good balance, it gave her an excuse not to talk about it. She tried to do some reading, but it was hard to focus, so they gave her hands-on tasks. Putting things together, taking other things apart. She was never going to be an engineer, but she could follow instructions, and it felt good to be _handy_.

By the time she was healed up enough to be considered for missions again, she did her best to be ready to talk to Steve. But he had Nat talk to her. Nat assured her that right now, it was for the best, that she could make sure that Steve wasn’t unfair in the assignment selections. Wren knew she was right, and part of her was relieved, but the other part was worried. Was this another way of punishing her? Was he just avoiding her? Maybe he regretted his part of things, didn’t know what to say to her?

But her first assignment back was going to be with Bucky and Scott. It wasn’t Hydra-related, strictly speaking, and it wasn’t even a big international mission. There was a man who was a known smuggler of antiquities and arms that was supposed to be in San Francisco for a perfectly legal auction. He went by Ando, he was Japanese, and they had intel that his business interests were crossing: he was going to use the auction to smuggle a new weapon. The weapon was designed for Hydra, but the Avengers had already taken out his original buyer, so he was putting it on the open market.

Wren spoke enough Japanese to be able to understand anything she might overhear, and enough art history knowledge to function at the auction. Bucky was a weapons expert, and could hopefully figure out the weapon, if it looked like anything currently available. Scott could figure out intel about the weapon if it was completely new, and the security if it came to that, plus he had connections in the area. Wren was a little concerned Bucky was also just a spy for Steve, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that regardless of if it was true.

And besides, maybe she could get Bucky’s perspective on what Steve had said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the short-ish chapter, but, you know...drama!
> 
> I also wanted to say: I know the world is a really awful place right now. Our personal problems are already so much to bear, add on top of that COVID, and add on top of THAT having racial issues and police brutality coming to a head here in the States, it's a really shit time. Even though I don't know know you all personally, I hope you're finding the support you need right now, and that you can find even small ways to make the world around you a better place, preferably by destroying the bullshit systems that oppress people. 
> 
> Fuck white supremacy! Black Lives Matter!


	20. Chapter 20

Luis met them at the airport, excitedly shaking hands with Bucky, and surprisingly silent around Wren. He found his voice soon and chattered through the car ride to the safehouse. Well, van ride. They had arranged a meeting to get a preview of the items up for auction. Ando wasn’t supposed to be there, but, as they had no idea which item the weapon was concealed in, it would give them a chance to compare what was listed online and what was in the storehouse. If they could figure out which item it was in, that gave them some flexibility: They could go to the auction, wait to see who bought it, and then re-acquire it afterwards, hopefully getting to bust the seller and buyer in one fell swoop. If they couldn’t figure out which item it was in, that was a problem.

Wren had already briefed them on what they knew and what they still had to figure out. So when they were at the safehouse, they had a leisurely time to chill and get ready before the meeting. Bucky said he had something to do so he left for a while. Luis grabbed some tacos for lunch, and hung out with Scott and Wren while they all ate. Eventually, the subject turned to the breakup.

Scott asked, “I guess I just don’t quite get what happened.”

Wren sighed, “It’s complicated. I mean, you saw how he acted after that Bangkok mission. It was…”

“Yeah, it was… _not good_ ,” Scott agreed.

“To say the least. I just didn’t want to deal with it anymore. So I…I broke up with him.”

“Bummer.”

“But that’s the weird part. Because he left for a bit, and then came back and just…he was really _mean_ to me. I can’t explain it, I don’t understand it either.”

“So you’ve been avoiding him?”

“Yeah, he’s been avoiding me, too. But I don’t know what to say to him. We can’t avoid each other forever.”

Luis piped in, “So, does that mean you’re single?”

She grinned, “Yes, I’m single.”

“Dude, she just dumped _Captain America_ ,” Scott scoffed.

“Yeah,” Luis said, “so that means she’s single.”

Wren shook her head with a small smile, “Well, the breakup is pretty fresh, I don’t know that I’m ready to date quite yet.”

“That’s okay, I’m patient,” Luis shrugged.

Bucky came through the door, “What are you patient for?”

“Nothing Buck,” Wren dismissed, but then she looked up. “Bucky! Your _hair_!” she leapt out of her seat, bounding over to him. His locks had been shorn, high and tight on the sides with a bit of length on top, and he’d gotten a shave, too. “Was _that_ what you were doing? Going to a barber?”

He blushed a little, “Yeah, I, uh…since we were going to be wearing suits and looking fancy, I figured a haircut would help me look more like a professional security guard. And less recognizable.”

“It looks so _good_!” She started to reach up, and stopped herself, “Can I touch it?” He grinned back at her and nodded, tilting his head so she had better access. She squealed a little, “I love that fresh haircut feel! Do you like it?”

“I don’t know, it’s okay. It’s just hair, but I’d kind of gotten used to it being long.”

“I get that. But it really does look good! That and the clean shave: no one will recognize you, so good call. We were just wrapping up some lunch you want anything? We’ve got tacos!”

“Sure,” Bucky shrugged, following her to the table.

Scott and Luis excused themselves, they wanted to check something in the surveillance gear in the van. Wren and Bucky ate in silence for a minute, neither of them really sure how to ask about what was on their minds. The whole flight over, Wren had mostly joked around with Scott or entertained herself, and neither of them really wanted to talk in-depth about Steve with Scott there.

“So…” they both started at the same time, then chuckled, and she gestured to him to go first. He tried again, “Steve, huh?”

She sighed. “Yeah.”

“How are you doing? It seems like you’ve been…having a hard time.”

“Yeah, well…it kind of sucked, the way it all went down.”

“Yeah. Steve has been hurting a lot, too. Although I suppose that’s not something that bothers you too much.”

She sighed, “I’m not a monster, Buck. I don’t want him to be in pain. But the things he…he hurt me a lot.”

Bucky’s brows knit, “Like, physically?”

She shook her head vehemently, “No, Steve wouldn’t do that. He was just…he was so _mean_.”

Bucky’s brows furrowed even further, “He was _mean_? To _you_?”

“Did he not tell you?”

“No, he told me what you had said, but that was it.”

“He said…actually, you know what? I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to shit-talk your best friend or pit you against him or anything, I just want to get past it. Move on.”

“You going to move on with Luis here?” he smiled at her, nudged her with his elbow and waggled his eyebrows at here.

“I’ll never get used to that super soldier hearing! But no, I don’t think so. I know the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else, but…that’s not quite what I had in mind for that effort.”

Bucky laughed, “You’ve sure got a way with words, Wren!”

* * *

They managed to case the auction items just fine, didn’t seem to draw any suspicions. Luis stayed in the van, Wren acted like the potential buyer, with Scott as her assistant with an iPad, ostensibly taking notes on what she wanted to buy, and Bucky followed around like security. They had it narrowed down to two possible items. Not as good as they’d hoped, but better off than they had been that morning. It did, however, put them in a bit of a bind. They didn’t have the resources to track two potential items, and as they didn’t have the invite list, it would be risky to try to guess based off buyers.

That left them with one real option: break in tonight.

So that’s why, on a chilly night in November, Wren, Bucky, and Luis were crammed in the back of a van in the Financial District, hoping like hell no cops came by. Really, they weren’t doing anything illegal. Well, Scott was technically trespassing.

“Technically, it’s only breaking and entry if you use force,” Scott explained over the comms. “Of course, force can be pushing a door open. But I'm not even doing that.”

Bucky grumbled, “Yeah, but I don’t think a cop would appreciate the distinction if they came across three shady folk in a shitty van in the middle of a bunch of very closed businesses.”

“Aw, calm down, Buck, I’m not worried!” Wren attempted to lighten Buck’s mood. “And really, it’s 2 shady dudes and one sweet, innocent little me,” she jokingly batted her eyes. “Sorry, officer! I just lost my way!”

Buck shook his head, but he was smiling, “You’re cute, Wren, but there’s no way that would work.”

“Pfft, shows what you know. You know how many nights I’ve spent in jail?”

“Three?” Luis guessed.

“50?” Scott offered over the comm.

“Zero. No speeding tickets, either. I wear low-cut dresses, cops don’t need to look much further than that. You all are just screwed. Well, I mean, you don’t have to deal with the bad parts of misogyny, but other than that…”

Scott laughed, “Other than that…Well, while you were talking about how your awesome boobs keep you out of jail, I made it in. So, which fancy old vase are we talking about?”

Wren explained, “It’s a Ming dynasty vase with a…you know what? It’s the white and blue one. The big one.”

“Roger-dodger! Let’s see…nope, not in there. Next?”

“The _norimono_ , it’s a li…it’s a big fancy box for carrying people in it?”

“Thank you for momentarily thinking I would know what you were talking about. Okay, I see it…but there’s nothing inside of it.”

Bucky responded, “Shrink down, there could be a false bottom or compartment in the top.”

“We can’t, just, like…”

Wren snapped, “If you break that expensive antique apart because you’re lazy, I will break you apart.”

“Message received. Shrinking.”

He hadn’t even been small for 5 minutes when there was a knock on the back door of the van.

Wren groaned, “Shit. Must be cops. I’ll handle this.” She popped a button on her dress open, mussed up her hair a little, wiped at her lipstick, and then opened the back door just enough to peek out, blocking the view in with her body. She affected a drunken slur, “Hey, officer, I’m sorry, I was just…”

But it wasn’t a cop. It was Ando. He had some inscrutable device in his hands, and said in clipped tones, “Well if it isn’t the Avengers! I do believe you are looking for th-”

He wasn’t going to get his bad guy speech. Bucky launched himself past Wren, punching Ando in the face with his metal hand, and spinning to catch the weapon before it hit the ground. He even stuck the landing.

Wren and Luis were looking at him out of the back of the van, Luis dramatically whispering, “Holy shit, that was…”

Wren finished, “…SO anticlimactic!”

The crack of her laughter snapped Buck out of his dramatic pose, “Well, I couldn’t just let him…”

“No, Buck, it was great! It just…I mean, we’re kinda done here now, right? That’s it?” she shrugged.

Scott’s voice came over the comms, “Hello? Is anyone going to tell me what’s happening? Can I get out of this old box?”

They discussed dim sum options for the next day as Scott made his way back. Bucky just let their back-and-forth roll over him. He’d never been to San Francisco, he’d never had dim sum, and generally his preferred mission food was “pizza or whatever kept him more-or-less-nourished,” so he didn’t have much to add to the conversation. But he was glad for it: Wren seemed happy. Not elated or anything. But she was making jokes, teasing them, drooling over food he’d never heard of.

Since the breakup, it felt like she’d been avoiding him almost as much as she’d avoided Steve. He couldn’t really blame her for it, she’d broken his best friend’s heart. And, apparently, he’d hurt her pretty bad, too. But he’d missed her. Even seeing her around, it wasn’t quite the same. Her light had been dimmed. She was strong, he had no worries that she’d bounce back. But fuck if he didn’t want to see her smile again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for a chapter that was kinda me trolling you! Not every mission is going to be super dramatic! So I used it as a bonus weekend update (outside of the M/W/F update schedule I'm trying to hold myself to), because next week...hoo buddy, there's gonna be some good stuff happening!


	21. Chapter 21

“Wren? What are you doing in here?” Bucky strode into the meeting room. They were back at the compound, having settled everything in San Francisco the night before, with plenty of time left over for Wren to stuff herself on the local foods before flying back. It was late, but Bucky wanted to grab something from the office area. He thought he heard a voice, and went to investigate, assuming someone left a com open or something, but instead found Wren, sitting on the sideboard, singing sadly. With a _large_ bottle of bourbon. “What’s all this?”

“Nunya bidness, ‘swhat it is,” she snipped at him. The bottle may have been large, but he hoped it wasn’t full when she’d started. They’d only gotten back from San Francisco a couple hours ago, if she’d finished that much in that time…

“You’re wasted, doll,” he slid the bourbon out of her reach, and got a bottle of water from the mini fridge to replace it in her grasp.

“I’m not _wasted_. I’m _drunk_. It’s a subtle but important difference.”

“Drink some water, doll. You don’t want to be in a bad way tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” there was surprisingly little sarcasm in her voice, she almost sighed it.

He leaned on the conference table across from her. “Good girl,” he praised as he watched her. “You wanna tell me what’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”

“I’m just so fucking _tired_ , Buck.”

“Then get some rest. Sleep in tomorrow, I’ll tell them you’re sick. Which you might well be at this rate.”

She gave him a sad smile, “I’m not _sleepy_ , Buck, or I’d be curled up in bed like a good girl. I’m tired of…ugh, it sounds stupid.”

She dropped her eyes from his, he moved to her and lifted her face, “You’re not stupid, sweetheart. C’mon, you can tell me.” He was hoping it wasn’t about Steve. He wanted to be a friend to both of them, but…it wasn’t always easy. And hearing her talk about him was hard.

She eyed him for a moment, bit her lip. “I’m tired of being in control,” she half-blurted. “I just…it’s so much effort to keep my powers reigned in. And being part of the Avengers is amazing, everyone is so wonderful, but…”

“But it’s a lot of responsibility. Self-control.”

“ _Exactly_. I just…I don’t have an outlet,” she explained, and he felt the light pressure of her fingers on his metal arm. “I need space to…lose control. Even with Steve…” she trailed off, blushing.

“Did he…not treat you well?” Buck knew this was dangerous territory. Steve was his best friend, but if he’d hurt her…

“No, no, until right at the end, he treated me almost too well. He was the paragon of respect and chivalry.”

Buck was confused, “Isn’t that what you want?”

“Yes, but…no. I mean…ugh, this is too embarrassing, I shouldn’t be telling you this,” she put her face in her hands and leaned forward, bumping into his chest.

He wrapped his arms loosely around her and chuckled, “Just tell me, doll.”

“He was always so sweet and tender. I just…that wasn’t always what I wanted,” she rolled her head to his shoulder and absently played with the buttons on his shirt.

He considered her words very carefully. “So…you wanted someone…a little rougher around the edges?”

“I want someone who will respect me as an Avenger and as a person…but in the bedroom, I just want to…”

His arms slowly, unconsciously tightened around her. “Lose control?”

She just nodded, and didn’t notice how Bucky was holding his breath. After a moment she added, “I sound like such a freak.”

“You’re not a freak,” he added quickly.

“But…I’m a feminist. I’m a modern, powerful woman. I have _literal_ powers. I fight bad guys. I shouldn’t _be_ like this.”

“Nah, doll. It makes perfect sense to me. We all want what we can’t have, or feel like we don’t have. That’s just natural.” He was trying to sound casual and friendly, but it came out too husky and rough when he said, “If anything, I feel the opposite way. After everything Hydra did…”

“You want to regain control. Makes sense.”

They stayed there for a while in silence. Bucky was trying to keep invasive thoughts from intruding in on the moment, trying to keep a grip on that self-control he so carefully guarded. He thought she had fallen asleep when she whispered, breath hot on his neck, “I never forgot kissing you. I tried.”

He wanted to look her in the eye, understand what was happening. She was still leaning on him, he wove his fingers into her hair to move her head so he could see her, and she gasped a little as he tugged. His heart soared and then fell: first flying from the gasp and the way the corner of her lips curled into a little smile, then crashing when he saw how clearly drunk she was. He clutched her to his chest, he couldn’t look at her lips anymore. After he took a few deep breaths, he stepped back and said “You need to go to bed, Wren. You’re drunk.”

“You’re not the boss of me, Buck,” she leaned over, stretching to reach the bourbon Bucky had put out of her reach.

He grabbed her hips and scooted her further from the bottle, then grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled it back. “No more for you. Be a good girl, drink some water.”

She righted herself, raised an eyebrow at him with a little smile, “What if I don’t, Buck?” He still was holding her with one hand on her hip, one on her wrist, and he squeezed a little. He watched her lips fall open as she gave a little gasp. “I’ll be good,” she breathed. She used her free hand to pick up the water bottle, drinking, holding his eyes the whole time. She finished the bottle, wiping at her lips with the back of her wrist. She set the bottle down and put her hand on his chest experimentally. She maintained eye contact as she trailed her fingers down his body, hooking her finger into the waistband of his jeans.

His metal hand moved from her hip to her hair, tugging her hair. He lowered his lips to her ear and growled, “Go to bed. We’ll talk tomorrow.” And with that, he gave her ass a little slap and walked away, taking the bourbon with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinduva short one, but as y'all got a bonus chapter over the weekend I don't feel too bad. 
> 
> Eh? Eh? Bucky's 'bout to get himself into some trouble! And by trouble, I mean Wren's *cough cough*...


	22. Chapter 22

Wren came into the meeting the next morning looking tired, but not as hungover as Bucky might have expected. She was wearing a loose dress with an enormous hoodie wrapped around her, flip flops slapping the floor as she tried to quietly sneak into the back of the conference room. He couldn’t help but smile when he saw her, even when she was a little worse for the wear, she was gorgeous. And he was desperate to find out: if he lifted the hem of her dress, would he find little bruises from his metal fingers? She had such flawless skin, did she bruise easily?

He snapped himself out of it. She nodded at him in greeting, checking her phone as she sat. The call started; Tony was checking in with them on their progress routing out the last Hydra agents. It was mostly Steve doing the talking, so Bucky kept an eye on Wren. She was drinking water, trying to pay attention. Was she avoiding eye contact with him?

She delivered her part of the report, brushing off Tony’s jokes about her not being her usual chipper self. Very business-like. Everyone else reported in, most calling in from the field. When they wrapped, Steve marched out, Bruce lingered for a moment, talking to Wanda. Wren went over to the sideboard, and Bucky smiled again, imagining her perched up there. He walked up behind her as she poured herself some coffee. “So, Wren…sleep well last night?”

“Like a baby,” she responded, not looking at him. “You?”

“Had a hard time falling asleep. A lot on my mind.”

“Mm-hmm,” she hummed idly in response.

“How are you feeling today?”

“I’m fine.”

“Were you feeling ‘fine’ last night?”

She froze for a moment, then turned to him, looking surprised, “I’m sorry?”

“Last night? We had a conversation? You were sitting right about,” he patted the spot her ass had been, “here.”

And, looking into her eyes, he realized…she didn’t remember. Any of it. She had no idea what he was talking about.

 _Fuck_.

“Sorry if I was a pain last night, Buck. I lost track of how much I had to drink, I hope I didn’t talk your ear off.”

“It wasn’t any trouble. You’re a good drunk.”

“Yeah, I’ve never been a _mean_ drunk, but I tend to…lose my filter. Did I say anything embarrassing?”

He smiled at her, “What would you have to be embarrassed about doll? Even drunk, you’re a good girl.”

She snorted a little, “Hardly. Well, I suppose I have you to thank for making sure I drank some water? That can’t have been too easy, I’m not great at taking orders when I’m wasted, I can be a little belligerent. You saved me from feeling pretty awful today, I owe you.”

“Well, had to do something to take care of you. Glad you aren’t feeling too bad today.”

“A bit more caffeine, a bunch more water, and maybe a nap, and I’ll be right as rain.”

They made a little more small talk before she left. When he was alone in the conference room, he was sorely tempted to punch something. After all this time, leaving her alone so he didn’t step on his best friend’s toes. Then last night changed everything for him. What she was saying, what she was doing…What the fuck was he supposed to do here? He couldn’t just move on like last night hadn’t happened.

Bucky had walked away from this very room so certain that within 24 hours, she’d be in his bed, and he’d have discovered at least one special, secret way to make her moan his name. He couldn’t give that up. He _wouldn’t_ give that up.

But then, how could he make a move based on information he wasn’t even supposed to have? She wanted him. Wanted to be controlled by him. But that information was buried deep. He was sure if you asked anyone who knew her they would say she was a strong-willed, independent woman who wouldn’t take any amount of shit from anyone, including in the bedroom. If he just said “hey Wren, I know you want me, I’ll be in my room in 5 minutes and I expect to find you on your knees, naked in my bed, so I can see how many times I can make you scream my name” he expected that, best-case scenario, he’d get slapped. Worst-case: she’d leave him unconscious in a puddle of his own vomit with Steve and the rest of the Avengers lining up to kick his ass. He was going to have to work for it. And he hadn’t done that…well, in 70 years. He’d slept with women, sure, but he hadn’t _seduced_ them. Even if he had, Wren wasn’t exactly an ordinary girl in a dancehall. This was going to take some thought.

Wren had spent pretty much all day in her room. After the meeting, she raided the kitchen to make sure she had no reason to get out of her bed except to use the bathroom. She caught up on email, social media, etc. She watched some TV, even tried to read for a while. In the afternoon, she fell asleep like a cat in a ray of sunshine.

She woke up with a jolt, ray of sunshine long gone, trying to sort out what woke her. She heard a knock at the door, presumably the second round of knocking, and she called out “Come in!” without making even the vaguest attempt at getting out of bed. It was probably Wanda, on the hunt for the junk food Wren had rightfully stolen. She stretched a little, eyes still closed, and cozied up further under the covers, “Wanda, you can take the chips, but please leave the pretzels and the chocolate. I’ll pay you back, I promise.”

She was startled to hear Bucky’s deep rumble of laughter, “Guess again, doll. I’m not here to take your food, I’m here bearing gifts.”

She peeked out from under her duvet and saw him wiggle a greasy bag and a drink carrier. “My hero!” she cried.

“Although now I know that you’re the one Wanda’s hunting for, what’s it worth to you keep that information a secret? She’s out for blood.”

She pouted at him and batted her eyelashes, “Buuuuck, please? Don’t let her kill me! Honestly, if that’s a bacon cheeseburger and fries in that bag, I’ll do whatever you want if you just let me survive long enough to finish it. Pleeease?”

He felt his cock twitch at that offer. “Alright, I’m holding you to that. We gonna do this here, make a mess of your bed?”

“It’s already a mess, we can hardly make it worse. I needed to change the sheets anyway.”

“I’ll grab plates, so the princess doesn’t have to get out of bed.”

“You’re the best, Buck!” she called after him.

When he came back, he told her “Move your ass,” and she scooted over to the other half of the bed. He handed her the plates, kicked off his shoes, and hopped in. They got their feast set up, and he explained, “Hardly a vegan spa day, I know.”

“This is perfect, Buck, thanks. Nothing better after a night of hard drinking than a giant grease bomb!”

“Amen,” he clinked his milkshake against hers. “So…what was with the hard drinking, if you don’t mind me asking?”

She looked thoughtful as she took a drag on her shake. “I just…needed to blow off some steam, I guess.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She paused briefly, but noticeably. “Not really.”

Dammit, of course it wouldn’t be that easy. “Okay, well…I’m just across the hall if you do.”

“Thanks Buck. And thanks for taking care of me last night. You’re a good friend.”

Friend? Well, we’ll see. “You really don’t remember anything?”

“I do remember you being there. I remember going back to my room with two water bottles, even though I think one was already empty? I don’t know, silly drunk move.”

“That’s all, huh?”

“What did I say, Buck? That smile on your lips…there’s no way I didn’t make an idiot of myself! Please Buck, tell me!”

“I dunno, you already owe me pretty big for the burger and the promise not to rat you out to Wanda. I don’t know if you can handle the kind of debt your drunk secrets will get you in.”

She looked at him appraisingly, “What has gotten into you tonight? All this about owing you…I must’ve said something really bad, didn’t I?” Her face fell suddenly, “Oh, god, please say I wasn’t talking about Steve? He’s your best friend, I shouldn’t have…”

“No, not really. Well, a little, but nothing bad.”

“You’re _killing_ me, Buck.”

“You see why I can’t tell you. It’s _much_ more fun for me this way.”

“You’re so cruel!”

He just smiled smugly at that and tried to change the subject. They chatted as they ate their burgers, but Wren kept trying to bring it back around to what they’d talked about. He kept teasing her with the knowledge, but not giving it up.

When they’d finished Bucky got up to clear the plates and go to the bathroom. Returning to the bed, he found Wren laying with her head towards the foot of the bed. He sat near her middle, and confessed, “There was one thing you said at the end of the conversation…well, you might find it embarrassing, but I don’t think it should be.”

She propped herself up on her elbows to get a better look at him, “Please tell me, Buck.”

“I dunno, Wren, I like hearing you beg for it.”

She looked a little shocked at his bold phrasing. He’d toed the line with her before but since she started dating Steve, even after the breakup, he’d never been quite so…overt. “Please, Bucky! Pleeease...” she pouted.

“That’s more like it! Well…you admitted that you’d never been able to forget our kiss.”

She collapsed backwards, covering her face with her hands, “Goddammit! I _knew_ I’d embarrassed myself! Of _course_ I’d go and say something like that. I’m sorry Buck, that wasn’t…”

He leaned over her and pulled her hands away from her face. “Hey,” he said, his voice suddenly huskier, “I said I didn’t think it was embarrassing. I never forgot our kiss, either.”

She looked up at him, trying to steady her breath. “I shouldn’t have…”

“I think you should have.” He had her wrists pinned to the mattress now. On her back, it made it all the more obvious how ragged her breathing had become, watching her breasts sway with each little shudder. “It looks like I’ve got you trapped, doll.”

He saw her eyes linger on his lips as her tongue darted out to wet her own. “Please, Bucky…”

“Say it. Say what you want.”

“Kiss me.”

He didn’t hesitate, his lips claimed hers. She was moaning into his mouth almost immediately, he could feel her arms flexing beneath his hands, her fingers grasping for him. He covered her body in his, her legs snapped up around his hips like he was meant to be there. He ground against her, and she whimpered. She fucking _whimpered_. “Oh doll, you’re so sweet. God, I bet you’re so wet right now. Tell me.” She nodded, eyes looking glassy with lust. He tsked at her, “Nah, doll. I need to hear it.” He transferred both of her wrists into his metal grasp, and ran his free hand slowly down her body. “I want to know what I’ll find when I get to that beautiful pussy of yours. Be a good girl and tell me.” He lifted off her minutely, moving just slightly out of reach.

She moved her hips, trying to regain contact, press her body back into his. He moved even further away from her, denying her what she wanted. “So wet…Bucky, I’m soaked for you…” she managed.

He dipped his hand under the waistband of her shorts, and just pressed his fingers into the fabric of her panties, “ _Fuck_ , Wren, you weren’t kidding.” He kissed along her neck, and just held his hand where it was, not going any further.

“Please, touch me Bucky. I can’t…” she pleaded. He withdrew his hand from her shorts, and she whined, “No, please, I just want to feel you!”

“You will.” He sat up, kneeling, freeing her hands so she could pull her top off while he yanked his shirt off. She wasn’t wearing a bra, he raked his metal hand over her back and the other through her hair as she sat up to kiss his chest, fingers moving to his belt. He leaned back, and she freed his cock, lowering her mouth to it, licking it slowly. A guttural noise came from his throat as she took him into her mouth, as far as she could fit, before sliding off and swirling her tongue around his tip.

She stroked his shaft in her hand, looking up at him, “What do you want me to do, baby?”

“I want you to scream my name,” he pulled her back by the hair and yanked her hips out from under her, causing her to fall back onto the bed. He tore her shorts and panties off and gave her a devilish look before devouring her. He was very intentionally driving her crazy, bringing her almost to the edge before bringing her back down, monitoring every little noise she made, every squirm under him. With the way she clutched at his hair, he made a mental note to grow it out at least a little on top. Finally, when she was begging him almost to the point of sobbing, he let her come.

He gave her a moment to catch her breath while he shed the last of his clothes and got a condom. He sat against the headboard, stroking himself while he watched her recover. When she heaved a sigh and gave a little chuckle, he said “C’mere.”

She prowled up to him, plucking the condom from his hand. She gave him a little refresher with her mouth before rolling it down his length, and straddling his hips. She started to move herself to lower herself on him, but he held her hips. “Nah, doll. On your knees, against the headboard.”

She complied, and he moved behind her, pulling her against his chest. He looked down her front while his hands played over her body. She was already getting twitchy with need, moving to try to touch him, trying to kiss him over her shoulder. He took her hands, held them against the wall, making her lean forward. She gamely stuck her ass in the air, pressing it back into him, and he couldn’t stop grinning. Now that he finally had her where he wanted her, he was forcing himself to slow down, savor every moment. The sight of her smooth skin flushing from his hands, the feel of the curves of her waist and hips like a beautiful classical instrument begging to be played.

He guided himself into her, now moving slow less to savor her and more so he didn’t hurt her. “God, you’re tight! Are you okay?” he asked.

She answered by thrusting her hips back onto him, driving him all the way in, and throwing her head back with a strangled cry. He smiled, _god_ he loved this woman. He withdrew slowly, and thrust even more slowly, and she thrust back again. They repeated this game once more, before she let out a frustrated whimper. He wove his fingers into her hair and pulled as he drove into her. Again, and again, and again. She choked out his name before wave after wave of orgasm tore through her. He pulled her to him, clutching her, moving a hand to her clit to wring every last drop out of her just before he stilled in her as he came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FINALLYYYYYYYYY! And now I get to use this gif: https://66.media.tumblr.com/de80fea5e7b0659176010ad3489a67fb/tumblr_n4j4fpHzh41todvmbo1_400.gifv
> 
> LMK what you think! I'm so excited for the next few chapters!


	23. Chapter 23

He was completely physically drained, but he couldn’t stop himself from holding her, kissing her, cuddling her, caressing her.

When she caught her breath a little, she just purred, “Mmm…Bucky…”

“Fuck, Wren. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined…”

“Are you saying you’ve been dreaming of me, Mr Barnes?” she bit at his chest a little.

“Absolutely, doll. Before we even met,” he sighed contentedly.

He could feel her brow furrow against his chest before she propped herself up to look at him, “What? What do you mean, before we met?”

“When I saw your file, before Steve recruited you. I’ve wanted you a long time, Wren.”

“But…wait…what? You were such a dick, and then the kiss, and then…”

“I knew Steve was interested in you from the start. He’s my best friend, I couldn’t come between him and the girl of his dreams. He at least had to give it a shot. And I didn’t think…well, I thought he would be better for you.”

“So, wait…being an asshole was just…some sort of elementary school defense mechanism?”

“I’m sorry, Wren. I shouldn’t have been such a dick. And I should have let you decide for yourself who you wanted, instead of just taking myself out of the running.”

She blinked at him in plain surprise. Who was this and what had they done with Bucky? “Sorry, I think my brain got sexed too hard. What is _happening_ here?”

He smoothed her hair, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. “I’m not the best at talking about my feelings, doll. But I had to let you know. I’ve been crazy about you since the start, and I’m sorry for anything I’ve done that hurt you or caused you stress while I was being an idiot.”

She tried to read his face for a moment. He looked sincere, and she had no reason not to believe him, this whole thing just seemed insane. “Bucky, I…”

“You don’t have to say anything, doll. I know it’s messy. I just…I needed to let you know how I felt. And that I really hope we get to do all that again,” he gave her that devastating grin of his. She couldn’t help but kiss him. When he pulled back, still grinning, he asked, “Mind if I get myself cleaned up?”

“Go for it! I definitely need to change the sheets…” she gave him a little pinch on the hip and swatted his ass when he got out of the bed.

It was hard not to feel a little overwhelmed at the moment. She’d always been attracted to Bucky, even when he was an asshole he was a _hot_ asshole. But so much had happened, there was too much for her to wrap her head around. This was her ex’s best friend. A man she had thought hated her, then grudgingly tolerated her, then was becoming friendly with. And it turns out the whole time he was some kind of sex god. That sex had broken something inside of her, some dam she didn’t even realize was there. She was pretty sure it would take a while for her to walk straight, but part of her brain was already trying to work out how soon they’d be able to repeat the performance. And after he basically destroyed her, he’d been so sweet.

She got up and started stripping the sheets off the bed. Could this really be something with Bucky? Obviously the sex was incredible: even after one round, it would be pointless to lie to herself about that. She’d never really been with someone who’d dominated her like that. She’d been kind of curious about it, but never sought it out, or even brought it up with men she’d dated. They were either Good Boys, who she wouldn’t dream of trying to get them to treat her that way, or they were Bad Boys who she wouldn’t trust to let them treat her that way. Steve had been a Good Boy, for sure. Someday she might have been able to ask that of him, but they weren’t there yet. In his initial mischief, Loki had sensed something about her, or maybe just took a risk and guessed because it was what he wanted from her. But there was no way she would have trusted him. Of course, Loki had been an actual threat from the beginning, so it wasn’t really the same. When he’d kissed her, it had really thrown her for a loop. She was so fresh from Steve hurting her so badly, the timing couldn’t have been worse. But Loki had…softened. And maybe she could have even started to trust him, at least a little.

But Bucky charged right in and somehow knew exactly what she’d wanted. She didn’t have to tell him, he didn’t discover it through experimentation, he just went right for it. And managed to balance it with being loving and sweet, which was kind of baffling. But that was what she wanted, too. Being dominated all the time wasn’t the goal, she just wanted it as sort of…an option on the buffet. Could that be what Bucky would offer?

She pulled on a pair of fresh panties and her robe, then bundled up the sheets. Her room wasn’t far from the laundry chute, and hardly anyone came down this way except her and Bucky, so she wasn’t worried about anyone spotting her. She smiled in the hall, thinking how very easy it would be for them to sneak back and forth between each other’s rooms. She didn’t linger in the hall, she thought she heard footsteps coming towards the far end, so she ducked back into her room as soon as the laundry chute closed behind her. She pulled some clean sheets out and started hastily putting them back on the bed, so she could be ready for Bucky when he wrapped up in the shower.

She was a little confused when there was a knock at the door. In the past, she would expect it to be Steve. Even before anything happened between them, he would show up to talk or check in on her. Most of the others would text her instead, not just stop by without warning. She adjusted her robe a little and went to answer the door.

She tried to keep her face from falling when she opened the door. There stood Steve, big and beautiful as ever, hands stuffed in his pockets. “Hey Wren, can I come in?”

Oh, god, he hadn’t heard them, had he? “Um…it’s not a great time, Steve.” She felt guilty rebuffing him, but she had no idea if Bucky had told Steve how he felt about her, much less that he’d planned on making a move. Steve had hurt her, but she didn’t have it in her to be intentionally cruel to him, she wouldn’t want him to find out like this.

“Oh. It’s just…I just wanted to tell you; you don’t have to avoid me. The breakup hurt a lot, but I’m working on it. I’m not completely healed, but I can work with you. But we can talk about it another time, if you’re busy.”

She blinked at him, not able to stop her face from pulling into a small, hurt grimace, and her arms crossing around her middle, either to protect herself or to hold herself together. Maybe both. “I’m glad you’re getting over it. But, Steve…it’s gonna be a while before I feel okay working with you. All of the things you said to me hurt a lot, and…”

Bucky had rushed over and was standing at her shoulder, wearing only a towel around his hips. He’d heard the knock at the door when he stepped out of the shower, and initially thought he’d hide until whoever it was left. But his super soldier hearing couldn’t help but catch the conversation. He really didn’t want Steve to know he was there. But he’d peeked out the door just to make sure she was okay. When he saw her face and her posture, so sad and hurt and maybe even a little scared, he couldn’t stop himself. No one should make her look like that, not if he had anything to say about it. “Everything okay here, Wren?”

“Bucky?” Steve asked, looking surprised, then confused, “What are you doing…oh.” His face finally transitioned to stricken.

“It’s okay, Buck. Steve, you said some really hurtful stuff to me. I can’t just sweep them under the table, pretend like nothing happened. I’d prefer to keep working with Nat for now.”

Steve’s brow furrowed again, “Wren, I don’t mean to be dismissive, but… _you_ dumped _me_. I bared my soul to you, and then you ripped my heart out of my chest. And now you’re sleeping with my best friend?” The anger was clearly starting to build.

“Steve, that’s not fair!” she was starting to get upset, and wishing she could turn her feelings off. “I didn’t _want_ to break up with you, but you put me in an impossible position! I even regretted it, but then you were so cruel…it’s not fair for you to act like I’m the bad guy here, and it’s not Bucky’s fault either.”

He looked increasingly upset, “What are you talking about, Wren? ‘Cruel’? I was _never_ cruel to you!”

Bucky stepped in front of Wren, “Steve, I think you need to go cool down.”

“Oh fuck off, Bucky. Were you just biding your time? How long did you wait after she dumped me? Or did this start before, maybe this was why she went from saying she loved me to breaking up with me so fast?”

Bucky held firm, “You know that’s not what happened. You need to leave.”

For a moment, he could see the muscles working in Steve’s jaw. But whatever was going through his head, he must’ve decided against it, because he threw his hands into the air and stomped off down the hall.

After he was sure Steve was gone, he shut the door and released a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding. He turned to Wren, and his heart broke for her. Her eyes were shiny with unshed tears, and she was cradling herself in her own crossed arms, shoulders hunched, looking the smallest he’d ever seen her. He wanted to do nothing more than sweep her into his arms and kiss her problems away, but he knew that wouldn’t fix it. “Wren, you okay?”

“I don’t get it… how could he brush off everything he said so easily? He had every right to be upset with me, but...the things he said…”

He guided her to her couch and sat her down. “Can you tell me what happened? I mean, I heard Steve’s side of things, but I never really heard your side. Maybe I can help.”

She took a deep breath, steadying herself. “Well, you saw the fight on the Quinjet on the way back from Bangkok. The next day he came to talk to me, I think he felt bad about it. But he just…I was tired of having the same argument over and over. We didn’t really fight about it, not in a shouting kind of way, but I still felt like I was backed into a corner. Like I needed to choose between being his girlfriend and being a member of his team. I just didn’t think I could continue trying to be both. And I couldn’t quit being an Avenger. I felt like I had no choice. So I explained that to him, and…and I broke up with him. But then when he left, I immediately started feeling like I’d made a mistake. And just worrying that I was getting scared, or making up problems, or something. But then Steve came back and…I don’t know, I’ve never seen him like that.”

He wanted her to continue, this was the part he didn’t understand. Steve had come to his room after he left Wren’s, and he was crushed. They talked for a while, and Steve cried a bit, and was all over the place. Bouncing between trying to think of ways to win her back, to talking about stepping down as a leader, to trying to convince himself it was better off this way. But he was mostly just in dumb disbelief. He’d said that he’d just said “I love you” for the first time, that she’d said it too, and he couldn’t understand how things could turn around so fast. Bucky told him to just give her some space, that he couldn’t pressure her into taking it back, it would only make things worse if he tried. Then Steve decided that he needed to go to the gym, try to do some thinking there, and he left. But then after that, Bucky had seen a couple moments when Wren looked at Steve with hurt bordering on fear, and the way she talked about what had happened…something was missing from the story. “Seen him like what?”

“Mean, I guess. Cruel. He was saying things…it just validated everything that I was afraid of. That he didn’t have faith in my abilities, that he never really did. Stuff like that. It hurt so bad, Buck. I was so scared he was just going to kick me out on my ass. I literally got my luggage out, thinking I needed to be ready in case I had to bail quickly. Nat and Wanda assured me that wouldn’t happen, but I spent the whole next while scared that the hammer would fall. I couldn’t go on missions for a while with an open stab wound, but the whole time I was healing I was worried that there would be no next mission. I didn’t relax until Nat gave us the San Francisco assignment.”

“I’m so sorry, Wren, I truly had no idea.”

“You…you believe me?”

“Of course I do.” He pulled her into a hug that she obviously needed. He didn’t really know what to do here. That sounded so unlike Steve, but it was clearly what had happened. Wren wouldn’t lie about something like this, and he could see from her face that the pain was genuine. But he would need to talk to Steve about this, and he was pretty sure he was the last person Steve wanted to talk to.

She stayed nestled into his chest, “Thank you, Bucky. It really means a lot. I…I’m sorry if I come between the two of you. Steve may have hurt me, but I don’t want to hurt him.”

He chuckled a little at that, squeezing her tighter, “Oh, my sweet girl. You’re just…too good. You’re not going to come between me and Steve. I wanted to be with you. And Steve and I will figure things out between us. He never told me he said all those things to you, so right now, I’m pretty pissed at him, too. But he doesn’t have anything to do with you and me.” He pulled back out of the hug and cupped her cheeks in his hands. “But you don’t have to do this with me. Not if you don’t want to. If you’re still stuck on Steve, or you’re just not ready, I get it…”

She silenced him with a kiss, slow and sweet. And he got lightheaded, his heart soared so high. “I’m ready,” she assured him, climbing into his lap. He moaned under her, wrapping his arms around her, spreading his hands over the silk covering her back. He kissed his way over her jaw, down her neck, smiling when he felt her pulse quicken under his lips. He slid her robe off her shoulder, kissing his way along the path of the fabric, then moving lower. She kissed the top of his head before arching her back, lifting her breasts to him and running her fingers into his hair. He untied her robe, slipping one hand around her back and moving the other to caress her breast. She felt like her senses were heightened, like she could feel the scrape of every individual whisker of his stubble against her skin. And his lips and his tongue felt somehow more wicked because of the gentleness this time. She shed the robe, and brought his metal hand to her face. She pressed it to her cheek, kissed his palm. She sucked two of his fingers into her mouth while she ground herself against him, only the towel and the thin satin of her panties separating them. He watched her, couldn’t stop his mind from wondering why his metal hand. But the insecurity disappeared when she locked eyes with him, moving his hand down her body. She hadn’t needed to wet his fingers, a low rumble issued from him when he felt how slick she was. He curled his fingers inside her, and she clutched his arm, gasping. She held him to her, moving her hips against the cool metal of his hand. She lowered her face to kiss his forehead and whispered, “Oh, Bucky…I need you…”

The part of him that wanted her to beg for it was quiet now, and the part of him that wanted to give her everything she wanted was in charge. He pumped his fingers into her and worked her clit, giving her what had been difficult to deny her earlier. It was so _easy_ , he just wanted to watch her come over and over again, just like this.

She collapsed against his chest and pressed lazy kisses into his neck. “Thank you, Buck,” she breathed against him. Her hand snaked between them, loosening his towel. His hips bucked under her when, instead of feeling her gripping him, he felt the tips of her fingers ghost across the head. She teased him for a while, before asking, “D’you like this, Buck? You’ve been so good to me, I want to be sweet to you, too.”

“God, you’re the sweetest, Wren,” he moaned, wrapping his fingers in her hair. Everything he’d seen of her today, this whole side of her, was better than he’d ever imagined, no matter how hard he’d tried. “I need you…” he managed, before she finally gripped his shaft. She didn’t even have to move, he thrust up against her palm, and she had things positioned just so: at the apex of every arc rubbed his tip against her clit, still swollen and sensitive. They gasped and moaned against each other, losing themselves in the moment.

He couldn’t wait any longer, and she was thinking the same thing, because when he was just about to move himself to enter her, she moaned “Condom.” He stood, carrying her to her bed and gently setting her down. She kept her hand on him as he grabbed a condom, only letting him go so he could roll it on, and she could scoot further onto the bed. He moved into her open arms, taking a moment to just hold her, kiss her, slide against her. When she was gasping again, he entered her slowly. There was no teasing this time, they moved in sync, clutching at each other. No begging necessary, they both wanted to submit to each other. When they came, they climaxed together, forehead to forehead, eyes locked until they couldn’t keep them open anymore.

When they caught their breath, he went to get rid of the condom. Looking at her on the bed, he thought she might have been asleep. He just wanted to watch her, seeing her lay there, so peaceful and beautiful. She stirred a little, “Will you stay with me tonight? Please?”

“Of course, doll. Anything for you.” He slid under the covers, and she molded herself to him automatically, while he wrapped his metal arm around her. And he fell into the easiest sleep he’d had in decades.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well...Steve was gonna find out eventually, but...yikes. Poor Steve!


	24. Chapter 24

When she woke, Wren felt the heavy comfort of Bucky’s metal arm. She had rolled in her sleep, but was spooned up against him, and her arm was over his, fingers lightly twined and holding his hand to her chest. She smiled, remembering last night, and lowered her head to brush a kiss on the back of his knuckles. She felt him stir behind her, his arm flexed a little and squeezed her closer, as he pressed a kiss into her hair with a little contented hum.

That was enough for her to tell he was awake, so she squirmed around ‘til she was facing him. He smiled down at her, kissed her forehead, wishing her a “Good morning, sweetheart.”

She craned her neck a little, kissed him on the stubbly cleft of his chin. “Good morning, gorgeous,” she smiled up at him.

His grin turned a little sheepish, “You must be seeing your reflection in the arm, because you’re the gorgeous one here.”

“Nope. Your smile is seriously the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. It’s like sunshine,” she moved her hand to his cheek and ran a thumb over his lips. “I hope I get to see it more often.”

He beamed down at her, “I think you very likely will. Being with you makes it hard not to smile.”

“Who would’ve known you have such a soft side, Buck? You’re gonna lose your reputation!”

He rolled her on top of him, “Well, I’m not all softness, doll…” moving his hips to emphasize his point.

She crawled down him, and settled his shaft between her breasts. “Sure aren’t!” she chuckled, and started teasing him with her fingers and her lips. He propped himself up a bit with the pillows so he could watch her and twisted his fingers in her hair. He couldn’t stop smiling at her, he wondered if she knew how gorgeous she was.

She licked up his shaft and around his head, slowly, like she was savoring him. She watched his face, trying to figure out what he liked, what got a response. When she accidentally scraped him a little with her teeth, he sucked in a breath. Running her fingernails over the bumpy skin of his balls got a similar reaction. And humming, even without her power, also got a good reaction. It seemed like everything she tried worked for him, and she felt a little smug. She started stroking him in earnest, focusing on his head with her mouth, and it wasn’t long before he let her know, “Babe, I’m gonna come if you…”

Licking him from base to tip, she asked, “Is that what you want?”

“I just want to come inside you…you choose where,” he managed.

“Well, when you put it that way…” she moved to grab a condom from the nightstand. She rushed to put it on him, then sat up and slowed down, lowering herself onto him. She was still tender from the first round yesterday, much less the second, but it was such a sweet pain. She gave herself time to stretch to him, then reached her hands up to her breasts to pinch her nipples, put on a little show for him while she made lazy circles with her hips.

His hands moved up to her hips, not guiding her, he just couldn’t resist the hypnotic movement. He needed to touch her. He ran he hands over her as she smiled down at him, beatific, haloed by the morning light shining through her hair. It made it seem like it would be a sin not to touch this goddess as she rode him. She held his hands to her body, squeezing tight to her favorite spots. “Fuck, Wren, you’re so perfect,” he groaned. He sat up, wanting to hold her and kiss her, but she giggled and pushed him back down to the bed. He wanted to pout, but she gave a wicked grin and lowered her chest to his, twining their fingers together and pressing him to the bed while she lifted her hips. Her slow, happy intake of breath as she did was almost more than he could bear, and then she crashed down on him. It pushed something past the tipping point, and their lazy morning lovemaking turned into something hotter, more passionate. She released his hands to hold his face and pull his hair, and his moved directly to her ass, a cheek in each hand. He gave one a little slap and then squeezed, holding her up while she gasped and buried her face in his neck, begging “Fuck me.”

He planted his feet, held her in place, and thrust up into her, his growls and grunts mixing with her moans and gasps. He shifted his hand and she felt the tip of his finger at her ass, but he paused. She was beyond words, but she nodded against him and he slipped it in, just to the first knuckle. Her whole body clenched up, and he pounded harder up into her, knowing the finish line was near. “Come for me, baby,” he urged her.

“Buckyyy…” her moan turned into a whine that turned into a strangled cry as she clamped down on him. He gave a couple more thrusts before pulling her down, impaling her on him as he came.

They planted little kisses across their shoulders and necks, murmuring insensibly into each other’s skin.

When she could finally bring herself to roll off him, she just fell limp back into the covers. “It’s just as well I won’t be able to walk today, I don’t know if I ever want to get out of this bed.”

“Well, I’ve got to clean myself up a little. Is there anything you need to do today that would get you out of bed?”

“Mmm…well, food. And I need to talk to Nat later.” She looked thoughtful for a second, then sighed, “You gonna talk to Steve?”

He had lifted himself to sit on the edge of the bed, but he looked over his shoulder at her, “Yeah. I think I should. Later, though. I have some paperwork I owe him, I don’t want to give him anything else to be pissed at me for. Plus, I need a real shower, and food.”

“Okay, how about this: We take our respective showers, and you can wrap up your report, and I’ll get some food going. If I don’t see you in the kitchen, I’ll hunt you down in your room. Sound like a plan?”

“God you’re hot when you strategize,” he leaned down and kissed her, then popped out of bed, with her lunging after him to smack his ass. When he looked back at her, she was laying on her stomach, head propped on her hands innocently. He grinned, “I’m gonna get you for that, you know that, doncha?”

“That was the point!” she grinned at him.

Wren jumped through the shower and threw on some clothes and a minimal amount of makeup. She wasn’t as sore as she thought she would be, but she wasn’t sure how many more rounds she could go with him today. Super soldier sex was an athletic event, even if all she did was sit back and enjoy. Still, no sense in putting a lot of effort into hair and makeup that could get destroyed later.

Bucky was…wow. She hadn’t really thought of him as a romantic prospect, prior to yesterday. Between what an asshole he’d been at the beginning, and then everything with Steve, and him being Steve’s best friend, even though she’d thought he was hot and she’d enjoyed their kiss more than she wanted to admit (except when drunk, apparently), it hadn’t even really occurred to her. That first round of sex blew her mind, but the next…it was so sweet and loving and just incredible. And the third felt like sort of a balance of both. It felt like there was a strong emotional connection there, too, although it was too early to say for sure. She couldn’t discount the possibility that she was dickmatized, because _seriously_ , but…it felt like there was something real there. Something in his eyes that mirrored hers, something in their souls that felt tied together. She felt silly even thinking about it, they hadn’t even been together for 24 hours, but there was something that just felt very _right_. She was practically skipping out to the kitchen.

Bucky wasn’t there yet, so she started looking through the fridge to survey their options. Maybe omelets? She was trying to think back to past meals with Bucky, trying to remember what he’d liked. She heard footsteps coming down the hall, and she turned, already beaming in anticipation of Bucky coming around the corner. And when he did, for a brief second her heart soared. But then everything crashed. He looked at her, serious expression on his face, and said “Wren, we need to talk.”

His hair was long again.

She screeched out the sleep note, holding it for a moment longer than normal. Bucky collapsed, but it was Loki that hit the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Busteddddddddd!
> 
> OH THIS WEEK IS GONNA BE FULL OF DRAMA! If you haven't subscribed already, this would be a good week to subscribe (even if the subscription emails are incredibly slow), because you won't want to miss an update.


	25. Chapter 25

Wren told FRIDAY to summon Steve to the kitchen, and to tell him it was an emergency. Within a minute, his blonde head shot around the corner, ready for a fight. When he saw Wren standing there, arms crossed, in no apparent danger, he looked confused, then angry. “Wren, what is _wrong_ with you? You can’t just _summon_ me like that…” was all he got out before noticing Loki’s unconscious form on the floor. He moved to her side, “Did he hurt you?”

She ignored his question, “Steve, after I broke up with you, did you come back to my room?”

“What? Wren, what are you talking about?”

“Please, Steve, just answer the question. What did you do after you left my room?”

“I talked to Bucky. Then I went to the gym. Then I went back to my room. What does this have to do with…oh, god,” he looked stricken. “That’s not what _you_ think happened, is it?”

She shook her head, “No. From my perspective, after we got back from Bangkok, I hung out with the girls, then went to bed. You woke me up, and…well, you know that part, I think. But then after you left, I was having second thoughts. And then you came back, and told me that you didn’t have any faith in me, that you only brought me on the team because I was cute. That I wouldn’t be able to hack it without you protecting me. And then…you left.”

His face fell from looking like she’d slapped him to looking like she’d shot him. “God, Wren, I would never…I _could_ never…”

“I’m sorry, Steve, I should have known…”

Something else occurred to him, “So…wait…you didn’t come to my office the night we got back?”

“No, I hung out with Wanda and Nat, then went to bed.”

“That little fucking _snake_ …” He ran his hand down his face, then back through his hair. “So that wasn’t really you who said…” he trailed off.

“What? What did Loki…what did he have me say?”

Steve stepped close. Too close. She forced herself to look up into his eyes, and she knew what he was going to say before he said it: “I love you.”

A million thoughts and feelings coursed through her, and all she could do was stand there as he lowered his lips to hers, cradling her face gently. She could feel the love in his kiss, in the tender pressure of his hands.

“Really, Steve?” they heard Bucky’s voice from the doorway.

Steve started, “C’mon, Buck…”

Wren tried, “Buck, it’s not…” she started walking towards him, but Steve caught her wrist.

Bucky charged at Steve, “You treat her like garbage, toss her aside, and then the _second_ I look at her, you just can’t have that, can you?”

Steve countered, “I didn’t treat her like garbage, and I _never_ stopped loving her for a second.”

“Stop, both of you,” she stood between them, silently praying they didn’t turn this into a fist fight. “Bucky, it was Loki,” she gestured at the still-unconscious body. “He went to Steve, pretending to be me and saying…what Steve thought I said the night we got back from Bangkok. And he pretended to be Steve, it was Loki that said all that horrible stuff to me. And then he kissed me, and…”

“WHAT?” both men shouted at the same time, and she flinched.

“Don’t shout at me! He just…well, I guess after he left as Steve, he came back as Loki. He said he’d heard what Steve said, and then…ugh. He said he’d always had faith in me, and then he kissed me. And that was it. But he didn’t try anything else.”

“Are you sure, Wren?” Steve asked.

“I’m pretty positive. If he had done something, it was benign, just a very everyday interaction, nothing cruel or…you know. I suppose maybe he could have pretended to be Wanda or something, just to pump me for information, but he didn’t make a move, I didn’t have any other out-of-character interactions with anyone, and I hardly had any other interactions with Loki.”

Bucky nodded, then asked, “How did you figure it out? What happened today?”

“He came in looking like you, Buck. He was all serious, said we needed to talk. But he still had long hair. He wasn’t at the meeting yesterday, he must not have seen you since we got back from San Francisco, didn’t know you’d gotten a haircut. I knew it wasn’t really you. And then some of the pieces clicked into place. You both seemed so confused when I mentioned what I thought Steve had said. And Steve…well, it seemed like I was missing part of the story, too. Steve had been a little _too_ surprised that I was still upset that morning.”

Steve gave her a sad smile, “I thought we’d just exchanged ‘I love you’s. I thought we were good.”

She nodded. The three of them stood in silence for a while. “I’m sorry, both of you,” she finally said, “I should have seen it sooner, I should have…”

Both men simultaneously tried to pull her in for a hug, but stopped when they saw the other move. After another long moment’s stare-down, Bucky shook it off. “What do you want to do here, Wren?” he asked quietly.

She looked up into his face, then into Steve’s, tears brimming in her eyes. “I don’t know,” she managed in a voice so quiet and small, it was almost inaudible. She thought she could hear all three hearts breaking in that moment.

So she ran.

Steve started to go after her, but Bucky stopped him with a hand on his arm. “She can take care of herself Steve. We need to take care of Loki.”

* * *

Wren didn’t stop at her room. She didn’t stop at the door of the main building of the compound. She went to the hangar and grabbed a motorcycle and just kept going. She’d been reduced to her most basic instincts, and this wasn’t a situation she could physically fight her way out of, so her only option was to flee. Loki manipulated her, gaslit her, and clearly planned to continue doing so. She felt like an idiot for not seeing it sooner. She knew he could shapeshift; he’d done it in the past, and he’d done it in imitation of Steve to try to seduce her. How could she have told herself that it was just a coincidence that Loki had overheard what happened with “Steve”? He would have had no reason to be so close to her room.

She couldn’t stop beating herself up about it. Partly because it felt justified, but also because it kept her mind off the real issue: what next? Loki wasn’t her problem anymore: she was sure he would be punished and at a minimum banned from the compound. Thor wouldn’t be able to defend him from Steve’s wrath, if he even wanted to.

Her problem was Bucky and Steve.

If this had happened one day earlier, she would have taken Steve back. There was no doubt in her mind: she had been falling in love with that man, and if she hadn’t thought he’d broken her heart, she would have gone back to him the same day she’d broken it off. Things hadn’t been perfect, but no relationship was, and she believed that he wanted to work on things. Clearly, he loved her then and he still loved her now. And, much as she’d tried, she hadn’t been able to just turn off her feelings for him. The things she’d thought he’d said still hurt because she still cared about him.

But it didn’t happen one day earlier. It had happened _today_. After an incredible night with Bucky, a night that had been so perfectly what she needed: emotionally, mentally, and physically. She had just been mentally waxing rhapsodic about how amazing things could be with Bucky. And he really liked her, too. He’d said as much, but she could see it in how he smiled at her, how he touched her. That hadn’t been a one-off thing for Bucky. And she didn’t want that for herself, either.

She rode until she ran out of pavement, and then ran. She made her way to the top of a steep, craggy hill, her chest heaving, her lungs burning from the effort. She felt her mental grip slipping as all the feelings roiled through her. But the dominant one was rage: at being manipulated, at being hurt, at being used. At having to choose between the man she had loved in the past and the man she thought she would love in the future.

And she _screamed_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes out! I know it was a little obvious, but STILL...
> 
> And now Wren has a terrible choice in front of her DUN DUN DUNNNNNNN! I know people already have their thoughts on her choice, so...tune in Friday to find out!


	26. Chapter 26

“We’ve lost visual,” Sam told Steve and Bucky. Back at the compound, they’d been busy. Sam had seen Wren peel out of the hangar, and, on a hunch, sent Red Wing after her. He didn’t know what was happening, but it didn’t seem like safe driving was her priority, so he just wanted to keep an eye on her while he found out what happened. When he found Loki in manacles, badly bloodied, with Steve shouting over him, he got the story pretty quickly. Steve shouting wasn’t a frequent occurrence, so shortly everyone knew at least the basics of what had happened.

There had been some debate about what exactly should be done with Loki. He hadn’t strictly speaking done anything illegal, or tried to take over the world again, so full-on imprisonment was a hard sell. But he clearly couldn’t stay on the compound anymore. Thor agreed to take him to New Asgard and keep him under constant surveillance until Tony could come up with some improvements to the compound’s security. Wren putting everyone to sleep all the time wasn’t going to be a good tactic to ensure long-term that people weren’t just Loki in disguise.

Sam hadn’t been keeping a close eye on Wren, as he wanted to give her privacy. But when the error sounded in his earpiece, he relayed the info, and then turned the video back a minute in his heads-up display to try to understand what had happened. It showed Wren running, no motorcycle or helmet. She was scrabbling over some rocks, and then when she reached the bare top of the hill she stopped for a moment. He could see her plant her feet, take a deep breath, but almost immediately after she opened her mouth wide, there was a visible shockwave and the feed cut out. He couldn’t get any other response from Red Wing.

Sam explained, “It looks like maybe she’s the reason the feed cut, but I can’t tell. It seemed like she was alone, but Red Wing is down now. I’ve got the coordinates. I’ll fly out, make sure she’s okay.”

Scott jumped out of his seat, “I’ll go with you.”

Sam and Steve tried to argue, but he said, “Look, she’s my friend. And if something went wrong and she needs to be carried back, it’s not like Sam can fly with her and the motorcycle. Plus, Steve, nothing personal man, but you don’t know if she wants to talk to you yet.”

The others filtered out after Sam and Scott left, leaving Steve and Bucky alone with their thoughts. They stood in silence for a long while, staring out the window.

“Why’d you do it, Buck?” Steve asked quietly.

Bucky sighed. “I’m crazy about her.”

Steve gave a sad laugh, “Since when?”

“Since the beginning. I could tell you liked her, and I just…I didn’t want to stop you from being happy. So I backed off, tried to get over her.”

Steve ran a hand over his face. “How come you didn’t say anything?”

It was Bucky’s turn to give a sad laugh, “When was I supposed to do that? When you were so excited to recruit her? When you were mooning after the new recruit? When you were spending every free moment trying to talk to her? Should I have waited until you told me you wanted to ask her out, or after you did? When you were dating her? After she dumped you and you were heartbroken? Steve, I wasn’t sitting around waiting for you to screw up or something. I assumed I’d never get a chance with her. I tried to move on. Even when you two split, I wasn’t planning on making a move.”

“What changed?”

Bucky groaned a little. This was the question he couldn’t really answer for his best friend. He couldn’t tell him what Wren had said, but he couldn’t just not answer either. “I just…I dunno, Steve. I talked to her. She’d said some things during the mission, and when we got back. And I just…I had to know.”

Steve couldn’t keep the sardonic tone from his voice, “Oh, yeah? What’d you find out?”

“Don’t be like that, Steve. You know what it was like with Wren, being her focus.” Bucky wasn’t going to be more specific than that, but he knew Steve understood. Having her attention, even just sexually, for one night was better than anything in the world. It was a drug, and he knew he wasn’t going to quit easily, even just after his first hit.

“I know,” Steve sighed. “So, I take it you’re not going to back down?”

“I’m not going to pretend I’m not interested, if that’s what you mean. But it’s her choice what she does.”

“I know. Can’t blame a guy for trying.” Steve let the silence settle again for a moment before saying, “You could’ve told me, Buck. When we were looking at her file, when we were recruiting her, even once she was here, before I asked her out…you could’ve said _something_.”

Bucky smiled and shook his head. “Nah. I don’t think I’d seen you that sweet on someone since…” he trailed off, suddenly unsure if he should even say the name.

“Peggy,” Steve finished. “I know. She just…”

“I know,” Bucky agreed.

“I hope she’s okay.”

“Me too. I’m sure she’s fine, she probably just needed some space.”

“Why do you think Red Wing went down? Did she do that?”

“We’ll find out soon.”

* * *

Sam and Scott found her at the last place Red Wing had spotted her. But there was a small crater under her, and the trees for a hundred yards had been uprooted, bent, or broken. It looked like a bomb had gone off, but that bomb had been Wren. Sam put down at the tree line, letting Scott jump off to get big and go talk with her while he went to find Red Wing.

“Sooooo…” Scott started, “heard about what happened with Loki. Thought you might be kiiinda piiissed…”

She couldn’t help herself but chuckle a little. “Yeah, you could say that,” she gestured vaguely at all the trees.

“This was _you_? Shit, Wren, I didn’t know you could do that!”

“Came as a bit of a surprise to me, too. I didn’t know I could do that, either!”

“Well, it’s pretty badass! Tony is gonna have some ideas…”

“I bet he will. But I’m guessing you aren’t here to talk about engineering.”

“Nope.” He plopped down next to her. “Well, I’m not really here to talk about anything. We just wanted to make sure you’re safe. And, ya know, see if you needed a ride back. We can talk if you want, though.”

“This just sucks,” she sighed. “So, did they tell you everything?”

“Well, when Loki woke up and Steve and Bucky tore into him, I think we all got most of it. And then there was negotiations with Thor…yeah, I think we got the whole picture.”

“Well _that’s_ embarrassing.”

“No, nobody’s judging you. Loki’s lucky to get out alive, though. Thor’s taking him to New Asgard, by the way. He said he’d keep an eye on him.”

“I guess that’s something. But still, this is a helluva way to have the entire compound know that I was super-easily tricked AND all about the current events in my sex life.”

“It’d probably be easier to just put out a newsletter next time.”

She smiled, “I’ll keep that in mind.” They bumped shoulders against each other. She switched to a mock-ditzy voice and, full of vocal fry, said “Thanks daddyyyyyy.”

“Hey now. I know how the kids use that these days, and you’re not bringing _me_ into your crazy sex trap.”

“Gross! A: That is absolutely _not_ how I meant it. B: Is that what everyone is saying about me? I’m some sort of mad seductress, with a Venus flytrap in my…”

“No, but you’ve got 2 super soldiers under your belt. And if you keep calling me ‘daddy’ that would definitely start some rumors.”

“Ew! Ugh, okay, well, I don’t need that mess in my life. So…I’m guessing Sam’s the option for the ride?”

“Yup.”

“I’ll take the motorcycle, as long as it isn’t too squished.”

“Can I ride back with you? It’s too tempting to tickle Sam, and he said if I did it again he’d crash and kill us both. On purpose.”

“Okay, but you’ll be full-sized and you better not tickle me, either, or there _will_ be blood on the pavement, and I’ll start some rumors about _you_.”

“Okay, but only because I don’t want you to destroy me like this hilltop.”

* * *

When she made it back to the compound with Scott, she was starving. She hadn’t eaten anything since the burgers the night before with Bucky. God, that felt like a fucking _age_ ago. She knew she had people she needed to talk to, but if she didn’t get some food in her she didn’t think she’d make it through those conversations.

Of course, they’d anticipated that. When she got to the kitchen, Steve and Bucky were waiting there with some foods they knew she liked waiting at the table. Both men stood when she appeared in the doorway, wearing matching expressions that combined relief and concern.

Scott mumbled, “You know, I better…do the…thing…with the…bye!” before fleeing backwards.

Wren walked slowly to the table. With their eyes on her, she felt a little like prey walking into a trap. She knew that both of them were waiting for any signal from her, the slightest indication from her facial expressions or the way she moved that she’d made a choice. She looked between them, and finally said, “Guys, I know we’ve gotta talk, but I’m starving.”

They both started stammering and moving, Steve with an “Oh! Of course!” He started to step aside, get out of her way, but then moved to envelop her in a hug, “Sorry, Wren, I was just so worried.”

She hugged him back, “I know, Steve. Sorry I ran off; I just needed some space.”

When Steve released her, she turned to Bucky, and offered him a hug. He gladly wrapped his arms around her, saying “Sam said you blew the top off a mountain?”

She chuckled against his chest, “Sam exaggerates a bit. It was a hill, and I mostly showed a bunch of trees who’s boss.”

“You’re still a badass,” he grinned down at her.

They sat down at the table, and she grabbed a sandwich and started digging in. Using her power like that had taken a lot out of her, they could have put dog food on the table and she would have happily licked her plate clean. But the effort was appreciated, nonetheless. Steve recapped the plan for dealing with Loki. There wasn’t much beyond what Scott told her, but letting him explain things while she ate seemed better than sitting in awkward silence.

When she finished, she put her napkin on the table and sat back. She exhaled in a whoosh, and started, “I know that Loki put us all in a bad situation. If he hadn’t…interfered, I guess, I might still be with Steve. And if I’d found out sooner, it might have just been a choice of whether or not Steve and I got back together. But…well, I’m guessing Loki went for the timing that would cause maximum damage. Did he know?” she looked to Bucky.

Bucky nodded, “He overheard Steve getting angry after…”

“Gotcha. I figured. Flare for the dramatic, that Loki. Well, it doesn’t make sense to guess at how things could be different, because that’s not the situation we’re in. So, I have a choice to make.” She looked at both men, trying to figure out what was going on in their heads. Steve looked worried, but hopeful. Bucky looked like he was trying to prepare himself for the worst. “Steve, we had a really good thing going. Loki was right about one thing: I was falling in love with you,” she tried to get the words out quickly, because she could see Steve looking happy and Bucky’s face falling. “But the reason for our fight and the breakup had nothing to do with Loki.” They both froze, and she continued, turning to Bucky, “Buck…this is obviously really new. We haven’t even been on an actual date, much less had an opportunity for any of the real relationship stuff.” She sighed before continuing, “This sucks. Nothing about this is fair to any of us. And I spent a lot of time out there trying to figure out the path forward that was the most fair to you two. But that’s not fair to _me_. So, trying to be selfish...” Deep breath. She had to do this. “Bucky, I…I want to find out what this is with us. I don’t know if I’ll regret this choice, for all I know, we won’t last a week, and everyone will hate me, and I’ll feel so bad I run off and join the circus. But I _do_ know that I will regret it if I don’t _try_. So, I guess…wanna go out with me, Buck?”

Her shy smile melted away any doubt in his mind, “Of course, doll.”

Her smile faded when she turned to Steve. “Steve, I’m so, so sorry. I still care about you a lot, and I never would have wanted it to go down like this. I just…I worked so hard to get over you. And knowing it wasn’t you that said all those cruel things…it can’t undo everything in the snap of a finger. I don’t hold anything against you. And I want all the happiness in the world for you. I wish things were different, but…”

Steve nodded. He looked like he was going to say something, but thought better of it. He just stood and left the room.

Bucky thought for a moment that she’d go after Steve. But she collapsed forward in her chair, head in her hands. Strong as she was, he knew it had to weigh on her to hurt anyone like that, especially someone she’d loved. He knelt in front of her, took her hands in his, and just…let her be. Let her know that he was there for her, ready to support her, ready for her. But giving her space to feel her feelings.

She slid off the chair, into his arms. She didn’t say a word, she just needed to be held. He smoothed her hair while she sobbed into his chest. “Ohh, doll. Do what you’ve gotta do, you’ve earned it. You’re the strongest person I know. But you don’t have to be. Let it out. Lose control a little. I’ll still be here, and you won’t get any judgement from me. You’re still strong.”

She cried herself out, then curled up against him. He lifted her easily and carried her to her room. “You need a rest, beautiful,” he said as he placed her gently on the bed, then pulled her boots off.

“I’m okay, Bucky, I…”

“Do you need me to hold you down, doll?”

She smiled sleepily, “Maybe just lay down with me for a bit?” He took his boots off and crawled into bed, curling his arms around her. She planted a little kiss on his metal bicep before cozying up to his chest.

“Wren, can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“My arm. You don’t seem to…I mean…doesn’t it bother you?”

She tilted her head back to look him in the eye, “Why would it bother me?”

“It’s just…it’s unnatural. And Hydra gave it to me. And it’s just…cold metal.”

“It’s not unnatural. Not any more than my hair color, anyway, and your arm is a _hell_ of a lot more useful. You’d still be able to carry me without it, but it would be a bit less cute if you had to huck me over your shoulder every time. As far as Hydra, well…Hydra gave me some scars, I’m pretty sure everyone on this team has something to remember Hydra by. And it’s not ‘just cold metal’…it’s _you_. I _like_ you. I like your parts. Even the metal ones. I’d like you just as much without it, but I don’t like you any less because it’s there.”

“You just…you touch it a lot.”

“Sorry, if it bothers you, I can stop. Or tone it down, anyway, might be hard to...”

“No, don’t. I mean…you can touch it. I just wanted to make sure it wasn’t…”

“I don’t have a kink for your arm, if that’s what you’re asking.”

He smiled and pressed a kiss into her forehead, “Good to know.”

“It’s a good arm, Buck. It’s done some pretty great things for me. It saved my life. The fingers have been _very_ useful. I’m sorry you have trauma associated with it. But from my experience, this arm deserves just as much affection as the rest of you. Maybe even more so. I wish you could see it like I do.”

“How’s that?”

“It’s beautiful. Like the rest of you.”

“Well I’m not exactly used to any of me being called ‘beautiful’…”

“Tough shit, gorgeous. Better get used to it,” she reached to his backside and gave it a little squeeze and nuzzled back into his chest.

“Hey now, you better watch it. I thought we were just napping.”

“We are, I don’t have your super soldier stamina. Besides, I blew the top off a hill today, I deserve a nap!”

“You talk too much for someone who claims to be too tired for sex.”

“Hey, you started the conversation. I thought you were supposed to be a strong, silent type?”

“This talk just makes it seem like you’re not really too tired…do you need help getting to sleep?”

“What do you…oh!” she gasped as his metal hand slid between her legs.

“Helps me get to sleep. But if you don’t want me to…” he started to withdraw his hand, but she just clutched his arm to her. “I’ll take that as a ‘don’t you dare stop, Bucky!’”

She bit his chest a little, “Don’t you dare stop, Bucky! Especially if I get to just lay back and enjoy…”

“You did blow the top off a mountain today. It’s your turn to blow _your_ top…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, there we have it! We did it, we made it through this particular chunk of drama, and we did it together! Go team! What do you think, did Wren do the right thing?
> 
> I will say: there is a whole lot of story left for Wren, and I haven't written all of it or even decided where it will go. So don't turn off that subscription yet! ;)


	27. Chapter 27

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: the next few chapters will talk about human (child) trafficking. I won't go into any specific horrors of it, or get into any detail about abuse or anything, but I wanted to give a heads up! If you want to toss some money towards stopping human trafficking, Polaris is an excellent charity to support: https://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=12434

Bucky spent the whole evening with Wren, but, to his surprise, mostly talking. Sure, they made out a little. But he hadn’t anticipated talking to her would be so…easy. Turns out being a brainwashed super-assassin, then a man on the run, then kind of a recluse, before having a crush on a girl for a couple months while she dated his best friend had made him a bit nervous about conversation. Even though she’d chosen him, he still couldn’t really convince himself it was real. And she asked so many questions about him, it was hard to get used to. Hard not to guard himself. But she promised it was to plan a great first date. He tried to insist that _he_ should be the one to plan the date, but she rightfully pointed out that _she’d_ been the one to ask _him_ out on a date, he had just made her beg to be kissed. And so they talked until they fell asleep, later than they should have, tangled in each other’s arms.

They woke to the sound of FRIDAY’s voice, informing them that Steve had requested Bucky’s presence in his office. Wren squeezed him tighter, mumbling something into his chest. Bucky couldn’t make out what she said, but he got the gist, and responded, “I gotta go, doll.” He chuckled when her brow furrowed and she grumbled something else unintelligible. He kissed her temple, and extracted himself from her arms. After pulling his clothes on, he turned around and was surprised to see her eyes open.

She grinned, “What? I can’t enjoy the view?”

“I’m not objecting! Just let me see what Steve wants, you stay in bed. Hopefully I’ll be right back with you in a few minutes.”

“Go easy on Steve. He had a pretty shitty day yesterday. I might not be here when you get back, I really need to hit the gym. But remember: our date is this afternoon. Meet me in the hangar at 1pm sharp.”

He gave her a smile and a jaunty salute, and turned to leave. Thinking better of it, he ran back to give her a kiss, then left for real.

It was harder than he would’ve guessed to not whistle while he walked down the halls. Wren had been right, he didn’t want to rub it in Steve’s face. But he felt like a teenager, kissing a girl for the first time. He took a moment to collect himself before walking into Steve’s line of sight, tried to put a serious expression on his face. It wasn’t easy.

“Steve, you needed me?”

“Yeah, come in. I’ve got a mission for you. We need recon on a possible trafficking ring, it’s rumored they have been seeking out children with special powers.”

“Jesus, Steve, that’s awful. What else do we have on them?”

“Almost nothing. They’re ghosts, Buck. They seem to do a lot of operating out of Russia, we’ve got a ping in Moscow. I just sent you the file.”

“Russia? You don’t want Nat to take this?”

Steve shook his head, “Nat’s checking out a lead in Mumbai, she’s leaving tomorrow.”

“Okay. Who’s coming with me?”

“It’s a solo mission. I figured it was nothing you couldn’t handle.”

“Just recon? I can handle it, but are you sure there isn’t someone better suited?”

“Buck, I can take you off the mission if you don’t want it.”

“No, I’ll do it. It just seems like…it’ll take a while.”

“To go from no information on a secret human trafficking ring to having enough that we can take it down? Yeah, I imagine it’s not going to be an in-and-out.”

Buck looked at him for a moment. He could hardly accuse Steve of anything, but it was a little hard to believe that this wasn’t intentional. “Okay, well, I’ll take it as a challenge.”

“Don’t half-ass it, Buck.”

“I don’t half-ass anything! I’ll just…work extra hard, so I can wrap it up.”

“Okay, well, wheels up in ten.”

“ _Ten_? If we have no intel to start with and it's gonna take so long, why the quick turnaround?”

“We can’t spare the Quinjet for what could be a long mission, and you wouldn’t need it when you’re there anyway. So you’re gonna meet up with a military transport, they’ll get you there. And we’re already making them late. Do you have any other questions you want to waste your ten minutes on?”

“No, sir,” Bucky grumbled, and turned and left. He ran to Wren’s room, hoping he wasn’t too late, that he wouldn’t have to run all over the compound to find her, or have to say goodbye over text.

He burst in, the door was still unlocked, and laughed when she jumped a mile. Especially as she’d been trying to pull on a sports bra. “ _Bucky_! Jesus!” she squeaked. He ran over, hastily shutting the door behind him, and pulling his shirt off as he went. He wrapped his arms around her, grabbing her bra and trapping her arms over her head, then walked her backwards to the bed while she giggled and spluttered. “Bucky, you were gone for like 5 minutes! Surely you’re not _that_ desperate…”

“FRIDAY, set an alarm for 5 minutes.” He laid her down, freeing her from her elastic bondage, and just looked at her for a moment. “Doll, I’ve got a mission, and no time. And I might be gone a while. So I just had to see you.”

Her face fell into a pout, “Dammit, really? Come here,” she reached for him, and wrapped her limbs around him as he covered her body with his. They just held each other, feeling all the points their skin made contact. “Couldn’t even be 15 minutes?” she couldn’t help but whine a little.

He chuckled, “Nope. It would hardly be the Avengers if we had a leisurely half hour or more before we had to leave.”

Wren couldn’t help but think back to her first mission after Steve asked her out, when they conveniently had a couple hours to make out, and that was before a mission Steve and her were going on _together_. She sighed, “Well, fuck. I guess we’ve gotta have a rain check on that date, huh?”

He kissed her neck, “I’m so sorry, Wren. I wish it could be different. But don’t forget about me, promise?”

She took his face in both hands, brought it so he could see her eyes. “Never, Buck. You may be many things, but forgettable is not one of them. Besides, you’ll be gone, what, 5 days? A week?”

He gave her a sad look while he rested his forehead against hers, “Probably longer. But I don’t know. It’s a trafficking ring, I’ve gotta do recon, and it may take a while.”

Her brow furrowed against his, “Wait, a trafficking ring?”

“Yeah. Kids. Kids with powers or something, I haven’t had a chance to read the file yet. Sorry to be such a downer, but…”

She started to sit up, he could only get out of her way as she declared, “I’m coming with you.”

Her tone broached no argument, but that didn’t stop him from trying. “Wren, I mean, I’d love for you to come, but you weren’t assigned…”

“Bucky, you read my file before I got here, right? How far back did it go?”

“It was pretty thorough, I didn’t read everything though. It seemed a little…”

“Yeah, we’ll get into how creepy it is that, before we even met, you and Steve knew the name of my kindergarten best friend, but that’s for another time. But did you see when my…when my misadventures first started? What had happened?” she asked as she was getting dressed and grabbing her bug-out bag and shoving extra clothes into it.

“Wait, Wren, just slow down.”

“You might want to go get your stuff, Buck. Your timer is going to go off any second.”

“But Steve...”

“ _Steve can get fucked_. I don’t believe for a second this is a coincidence, or that he didn’t know. This is just more of his Great White Knight bullshit, and I _will not stand for it_.”

FRIDAY informed Bucky that his timer was going off. He silenced it, and turned back to Wren, “Okay, I’m not trying to fight you or stop you. I’ll get my stuff, and then we’ll find Steve, he’s probably in the hangar already.”

She pulled him to her and kissed him and shoved his shirt into his chest. “Thanks, Buck. Wheels up in, what, two?”

He grabbed his stuff, and they hustled out to the hangar. As predicted, Steve was waiting for Bucky, two soldiers there in a jeep, ready with a “You’re a minute late, Buck. Wren, no time for lengthy goodbyes.”

“Steve, I’m going with him.” She looked past him, “You boys ready to roll?”

Steve stepped in front of her, wearing an annoyed expression, “Look, Wren, missions aren’t a time for grand romantic gestures. This is a solo mission for Bucky. It won’t be forever.”

“Steve, why the fuck would you send Bucky instead of me? This isn’t funny, this isn’t cute, this isn’t charming. This is _my_ case.”

“Wren, Bucky speaks Russian. You don’t. This doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

She was trying to keep quiet, but was having a lot of trouble not shouting at Steve. “This has _everything_ to do with me! Stop pretending like you didn’t know this group kidnapped me and tried to sell me to the highest bidder when I was a kid!”

Steve’s eyes went wide. He…he didn’t know. “What? Wren, how do you…”

“Are there a lot of human trafficking rings that specialize in kids with powers? I’m guessing those kids have a symbol tattooed on their hips?”

“You don’t have a…oh. That scar? You said it was a knife wound.”

She shook her head, “Cutting a tattoo off _is_ a knife wound, Steve.”

“Wren, then this is all the more reason you can’t go. I’m sorry, but what if someone recognizes you?” She tried to object, but he continued, “Wren, you’re too close to this. I can’t let you do this. Not for recon, you’d put the mission at risk. You’d put those kids at risk. Stay here, help with the intel, give us everything you know about them, use our systems for research.”

She started to reach for him, tears welling in her eyes, “Please, Steve. Please. Don’t…don’t make me stay. I _need_ to do this, I…”

“Wren, I promise, as soon as we get enough to move on them, I’ll fly you there myself. But for now…” he trailed off.

The tears started to fall now, “Fuck you, Steve.” She turned to Bucky, eyes pleading, “You better be in _constant_ communication with me, or I will come to Russia to kill you myself,” she poked him in the chest, but the effect was somewhat diminished by the waterworks.

“I wouldn’t dare risk it, doll. And I know with you working on things here, you’ll probably have it all sorted before I even touch down. I’ll see you soon,” and he pulled her in for a goodbye kiss.

As Bucky was driven off in the Humvee, watching Wren disappear out the back, one of the soldiers tried hassling him, “Your girl seemed awful upset that you’re leaving.”

“Only because she should be going with me.”

The other soldier laughed, “Gonna be a long, lonely mission? Russia in the winter, your bed will be awful cold without her…”

“Nah. She should be going because she’d do a better job than me. I’d be the one keeping her bed warm.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Told ya you wouldn't have to wait long for drama!


	28. Chapter 28

“Wren? You’re still working? It’s well past midnight…” Steve gently urged.

“Buck will be up in another hour or so. I have more satellite images to go through so he can wake up and get right to fieldwork,” her voice didn’t sound sleepy, but the accumulated exhaustion was showing through.

“And Bucky can take care of it when he wakes up. You’re exhausted, Wren, you could miss something.”

“I’m not exhausted, I just need to finish. I’m not missing anything, I know what I’m doing, Steve.”

“I know you know what you’re doing. You’ve been going above and beyond; we almost have these assholes and it’s all because of you. But you’ve been running yourself to the ground, you can’t keep this pace up.”

“I don’t _need_ to keep this pace up. I just need to _finish_ , then it’ll all be over!”

“It’s not a sprint, it’s a marathon, Wren.”

“Did clichés come with the serum, or was that some kind of special training? Or do you come by them naturally?” she tried to drawl sarcastically, but was yawning before she finished the sentence, undercutting her point.

“Okay, at least move over and let me help. We’ll get through it faster. What are we doing?”

This conversation was starting to become routine. As soon as the Humvee carrying Bucky was out of sight, Wren dove into the work. Her fury at Steve subsided quicker than he would have thought, but he didn’t fool himself into thinking that was about him, or that it was attributable to anything other than dogged determination to bring down this ring for good. After catching up on the file Steve had prepared, she got straight to work cataloging everything she remembered from her childhood: every name, every location, every procedure they had in place. Bucky had it ready well before he landed in Moscow. He worked on getting boots-on-the-ground intel while she worked virtually to flesh out what he gathered and do her own recon from the compound.

With a 7-hour time difference, Bucky could be out talking to people, getting photos, doing the work all day while she slept through the night at the compound, and then spend his evenings on phone or video with Wren after she’d woken up. Then she would take over and spend the rest of her day with her analysis, inevitably staying up too late so she could pack in as much work as possible.

Steve did his best to support her, he knew if she perceived his actions as remotely getting in her way, she would take it as a personal attack, and confirmation of his lack of faith. He still had his own work to do, including funneling what would have been Wren’s work to other members of the team. But, try as he might to tamp it down, he was still worried about her. He still loved her, and still wanted her to be safe from all possible threats, including those to her sanity. So he brought her food to make sure she ate, and refused to go to bed before her, so he could make sure she got some sleep. At least once that lead to him falling asleep in his own office, before waking in the middle of the night to find her passed out in hers. He carried her to her bed before retreating to his own.

Despite her initial suspicions, Steve hadn’t orchestrated any of this. Well, he maybe gave Bucky such a short notice before he needed to leave because he knew it would hamper his opportunity to have a real goodbye with Wren, but that wasn’t why he’d sent Bucky on the mission. And he felt enormous guilt for not making the connection with Wren’s past sooner. But, worried though he was, there was still a small part of him that was glad to spend extra time with Wren.

Since the breakup they had hardly spoken a word to each other before they found out what Loki had done. And after she’d chosen Bucky, he’d particularly missed her. It wasn’t jealousy, not really. If he had to see the two of them be physically affectionate with each other more, it might be jealousy, or at least something like it. But he’d just missed spending time with her. Talking to her, listening to her. Bucky had called it “her attention” and he was right: when the full force of her focus was on you, it was intoxicating. It was hard to give up. So working with her on this project made it better and so much worse at the same time: he got to be with her, but her focus was the mission. But every day, he did his best to take care of her. And every day, after they met online with Bucky and everyone gave a status update, he left them alone, and hoped that Bucky could provide her a bit of distraction, maybe lift her spirits a little. Buck had done that for him before he joined the army, and even when they served together in the Howling Commandos, he was good at making sure Captain America wasn’t all business. And with Wren, Buck had…different options for entertaining her.

And now they were so close to solving things. They had names of some of the people running it and had identified some of the kids they might have on-site, plus the powers they were thought to have. Bucky had gotten some information about potential locations, but it was pretty vague: no one seemed to know where it was, but there were small details about it they could use to narrow it down. They knew church bells were audible, that there was a blue house you could see out of a window. Wren was using satellite imagery and any cameras she could access to narrow it down from All Of Moscow to a reasonable number of sites.

When Steve joined her, they both became completely absorbed before Wren finally admitted, “I think we’ve done all we can do, Steve. I think we’re done.”

“I never thought I’d hear you say it, Wren. But I think you’re right. I’m hitting send now, when Buck reads it when he wakes up, it’ll be a snap for him to find the right place.”

“And he can start scouting while we fly out. We’ve got ‘em, Steve!”

He pulled her in for a hug. It was reflexive: he could see her eyes getting shiny, and either she was about to pass out from exhaustion or she was about to cry, so she needed a hug. She didn’t fight it, she wrapped her arms around him and buried her face in his chest.

“You’ve done an _incredible_ job, Wren.”

“Thank you, Steve. Really, I’m sorry I doubted you at the beginning of this, that was unfair of me.”

“No, it was reasonable. I should have made the connection with what happened to you. And with the fight about not having faith in you and with…well, everything, you had every reason to doubt me.”

“Then thanks for proving me wrong.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone that you were wrong,” he teased, and she chuckled against him.

“Good. And thanks for the sandwiches. And your occasional successes at getting me to sleep.”

“If you can’t take care of yourself, somebody’s got to do it for you. I’m happy to take on the job.”

She sat back a little to look at him, but they still held each other. He smiled at her, brushing her hair out of her face. He leaned down, pressing his lips to her forehead. He didn’t even think about it, he just did it. But she didn’t pull away, didn’t stop him. He tilted her face up and moved his lips to hers, but stopped before they touched. He felt like he couldn’t speak, couldn’t breathe. “Steve…” she sighed, unmoving. “This doesn’t change anything…”

“I don’t care,” he said before his lips crashed into hers. When he felt her hands move to him, tentatively touching his jaw and chest, he lay her down on the couch. He fought the impulse to rush, and instead went as slowly as he could. He didn’t want to push her, but even more: he wanted to savor every second. She was still so sweet, so soft.

Wren knew it was wrong. But all week she’d felt like there was this big, empty pit inside of her. Opening all these wounds from her childhood, and all the other traumas of the past, she just couldn’t feel whole. She tried to fill it with work, even with Bucky. And it would distract her from the pit…for a time. The work was frustrating, but it was satisfying when she made progress. And Buck was wonderful, he seemed genuinely proud of everything she figured out, and his little jokes, dirty comments, and a couple of sexy video chats and text messages helped as well. But none of it actually filled the void. It didn’t quiet the voices, it didn’t still the images flitting behind her eyes. If anything the work made it worse, because in addition to her own memories it gave her new names and faces to dwell on, new questions to obsess over.

When Steve kissed her, she knew it wouldn’t solve anything. But she could have a moment when she felt a little less alone. She could just find comfort in his arms, feel transported to those first kisses, when everything felt so beautiful and safe. And this week, she really felt like things had changed with Steve, like he was looking at her differently, like he was really seeing her, really _respecting_ her. Nothing about it changed her feelings about Bucky. She just had to hope it didn’t change Bucky’s feelings about her.

So she just held onto him, squeezed him tight, like a lifeline. She could feel tears sliding to her hairline. Steve’s hands started to rove on her body, not greedy, ever the gentleman. He started kissing down her jaw, to her neck. When he ran his thumb along her cheekbone, he froze and looked down at her. “Oh, Wren,” he sighed when he saw her tears. He sat up, bringing her with him, cradling her in his arms.

She sobbed into his neck, “I’m sorry Steve, I just…I’m so sorry.”

He held her face, “Babe…Wren, no. You have nothing to be sorry for. I shouldn’t have kissed you…”

“No, no, it’s fine, I just…it’s not fair of me. This week has been so hard, and I just want to be held, and I shouldn’t use you like this.”

“You’re doing no such thing. You want to be held, and I want to hold you.”

“No, but we both know _you_ don’t just want _someone_ to hold…”

“Tonight, just forget about all that. Let’s just get you to bed,” he hoisted her up and carried her back to her room. She didn’t object. He put her down, pulled her shoes off, and got rid of his own shoes and jeans before crawling into bed with her and pulling up the covers. He wrapped her in his arms, pulling her to his chest with a little kiss on top of her head. She was already sound asleep and, shortly, so was he.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a tough time, so...sorry/not sorry for all the drama and feels! Let me know what you think! I LIVE for comments, each and every one of them makes me genuinely smile!


	29. Chapter 29

Wren woke up warm, cozy, and then confused. When she stirred a little, she realized her nose was nestled against some pecs. And Bucky wasn’t…oh, right. Steve. The kiss. She remembered being so sad and so exhausted, Steve must have carried her to her bed and stuck around. She hadn’t been drunk, and she didn’t think in a million years Steve would have taken advantage of her even if she had been. Plus, he was still wearing his t-shirt, and she was fully dressed.

“Mornin’, shunshine,” Steve said into her hair. “Before you ask, no, we didn’t…”

“I know, Steve. I trust you.” She looked up into his eyes, “Are you okay?”

“I slept great!” he said with a chipper smile.

“You know that’s not what I meant…”

He shrugged, “I know. But…I’ll be okay. I know this doesn’t mean anything to you. I just wanted to take care of you.”

She looked hurt, “That’s not fair, Steve. It meant a lot to me. I appreciate you taking care of me. It’s just…”

“Bucky. Yeah. But…didn’t you miss this? Even a little?”

She sighed, “I…I don’t know what to say to that, Steve.”

“Just…be honest with me, Wren. If you don’t miss it, you don’t. If you do…”

“I still want to see how things go with Bucky. But I’m not trying to keep you on the back burner. Move on, Steve. Please. Find someone else. It’ll be easier on both of us.”

He moved his hand to cup her cheek, “Wren, if it would be easier for you if _I_ moved on, that seems to mean _you_ haven’t moved on…”

She shook her head and moved his hand from her face, sitting up, “Sorry, Steve. The answer is still no. I can’t force you to move on. But I’m with Bucky now.”

Steve just lay there for a moment, pissed at himself. He stood and wordlessly pulled on his jeans and shoes. “How long do you need before we’re wheels up?”

“My bag’s been ready all week. I can go now.”

“Take a half hour.” And he was gone.

Wren couldn’t give herself time to dwell. She jumped through the shower figuring she might as well make the most of the time she had. In eight hours, she would see Bucky again. They had a lot they would need to do, so it’s not like they’d tear each other’s clothes off on the ramp of the Quinjet or something, but still, it would be nice to look not quite so gross.

When she hopped out of the shower, she called Bucky before she got dressed. He could get a cheeky little preview to tide him over. But he didn’t answer. She went to check her text messages, then her emails, and all other forms of communication: there was nothing from him. Steve sent the files before they went to bed last night, so by their routine they should have received a confirmation from Bucky, plus any comments or questions he’d made throughout the day, and updates on where he would be. And usually she’d get some sort of cute text. Now that she thought of it, he should have come online before they went to bed. It would have been 9am there when they sent the report. And now it was 5pm in Moscow: there was no reason for him to have been quiet all day, unless something had gone very wrong.

When she was dressed and had gathered her things, she sprinted down to Steve’s room, pounding on the door.

He answered, fresh from the shower, looking wet and annoyed. But she didn’t have time to worry about it: “Steve, I think Bucky’s in big trouble.”

* * *

Steve and Wren spent the whole flight trying to find some trace of Bucky. The last ping from any of his devices was at the safehouse, but that didn’t really mean anything. There was still no contact from him, and they were worried that if someone had taken him, any details they sent to him could wind up in the wrong hands. It was hard for Wren, though. She knew it was the right thing to do, but that didn’t stop part of her from worrying, and wanting him to know she was coming for him.

They landed at an abandoned airstrip and managed to hide the Quinjet and procure a vehicle. Since they had no idea what happened to Bucky, they didn’t know if he had been compromised by a contact, so they didn’t know who they could trust. They cautiously made their way into town, slowly circling in on the safehouse, in case anyone was monitoring it. Between the flight time and the time zones, they’d arrived in the middle of the night, but neither of them was tired, so even though it was a risk, Wren insisted they go in the safehouse. She had to know what happened.

The front door to the building seemed like it was still secure, there was no evidence of a break-in. It was a generic apartment block in a poorer neighborhood south-east of the city, it had been built fairly recently but the rent was too high for the area, so not many of the units were occupied. Generally that made for a good safehouse: not many people to put in harm’s way if anything goes wrong, and not many witnesses to any strange activity. Of course, now it made things more difficult, as it meant that there wasn’t likely anyone around who’d seen anything.

The door to the apartment also didn’t look like it had been forced. A quick sweep of the main area looked like even Bucky hadn’t spent much time there: even the kitchen garbage and the fridge were empty, the only proof a human had been through was a half-eaten pizza. The living room had no papers, books, even the remote for the TV looked like it had some dust on it, unused in ages.

They moved back to the bedroom, Wren could hear the blood rushing in her ears, felt like her heart was going to pound its way out of her ribcage. They nudged the door open, and it was all she could do not to collapse in tears. There was a huge bloodstain on the pillow. Very little else looked unsettled: his laptop was on the other side of the bed, phone charging on the nightstand. There were even papers and his wallet on the dresser, and plenty of weapons in plain sight. Steve said he would check the safe, but she knew he wouldn’t find a hair out of order. These monsters came for one thing and one thing only: Bucky. And she was going to burn them to the ground.

They kept everything the way they found it and left. They broke into an abandoned apartment across the street. They setup a camera trained on the front door and another trained on a small crack in the bedroom curtains.

Steve tried to convince her they should sleep in shifts, keep an eye on the building, but she wasn’t worried. “Steve, I truly don’t think they’re coming back any time soon. We’ve got the cameras going if they do. We just need to get enough sleep to be able to find them tomorrow. They didn’t grab him based on our intel, or they would have taken his computer and phone. They grabbed him because he was asking around. So we need to backtrack through what he did, and find out who he spoke to. We’ll follow his footsteps, then either we’ll find them or they’ll find us. But tonight, no one knows we’re here, and we need rest.”

“Fine. I’ll take the couch.”

“I’m smaller, I can take the couch.”

“Just take the bed, Wren.”

“Steve, don’t be so…you know what? I’m too tired to argue. Goodnight, Steve.”

“’Night,” he grunted.

When they were all settled, Wren took a sleep aid, it helped her with the jetlag and it would help her turn her brain off so she could get some rest. She was out quickly.

Steve, on the other hand, couldn’t take anything. Well, he could, but it wouldn’t do any good. He was scared for Bucky, not knowing what had happened was killing him. He was scared for Wren, afraid that her zeal was going to cause her to slip up, and this time it would be worse than a stab wound. These people had been grabbing kids with powers for decades, and must still have records on Wren, or someone who remembered her. She wasn’t just at risk of being killed on this mission: if they sold people with powers, they would be able to make a hefty profit on Wren, and who knows where she could end up. He knew he couldn’t stop her, but that didn’t mean he didn’t _want_ to.

After about an hour of tossing and turning on the scratchy fabric of the couch, he heard something. At first, he thought it was a baby from another apartment, but then he realized it was Wren. He silently moved to stand over her. Sure enough: she was whimpering in her sleep. Her face wore a mask of fear, he’d never seen her look like that. She looked younger, somehow, it was like he was looking at the face of the 14 year old version of her, the face those monsters must have seen when they did all those terrible thing to her, trying to break her spirit.

After Bucky left, she’d told Steve every detail. How they’d tried to sell her, but she was too strong-willed, and since she had to consciously control her powers, strong-willed didn’t work well for the kind of slavery their buyers would have in mind. So they’d done everything they could to break her. She was just a kid, but that didn’t even make them hesitate. And now he couldn’t help but wonder which of those tortures she was reliving. He didn’t want to scare her by touching her, but when he stepped nearer, her hand shot out and grabbed his. She pulled, it caught him by surprise, so much so that he almost fell on her. He sat next to her, trying to gently wake her with his words, “Wren, sweetheart, you’ve gotta wake up, you’re having a bad dream.” But she kept grabbing for him. He didn’t know what else to do, so he just slid into bed with her, pinning her hands between them and wrapping his arms around her. She was just in a camisole and panties, and he was just in his boxers, but he reined his focus in and dedicated it to soothing her. He made little soothing sounds, pet her hair. But she had calmed already, from the second she was in his arms. She had taken a deep breath against his chest and stilled. He intended to get up when she relaxed, but told himself he should make sure she was really okay before he tried to free himself.

The next morning Wren was still in his arms, but now with her arm was wrapped around his waist. He felt like a dream, automatically kissing the top of her head, running a hand up her back to the nape of her neck and squeezing her close. She wasn’t awake yet either when she pressed a kiss into his bare chest, making a little happy, sleepy humming noise.

He started to rouse when he felt her hand sliding over his skin. His mind hadn’t really woken up yet, and he could feel his body respond before consciousness fully took over. He reached down and hiked her leg up over his hip, running his hand along her thigh and pressing his erection to her core. A quiet moan issued from her lips as she pressed against him. When his fingers brushed against the wetness of her panties, that’s what woke him up. His body was screaming at him to push himself deep inside her right now, it would be so easy.

But it would also be _beyond_ wrong. Wren would never forgive him if he let it go any further. He extracted himself from her arms and made his way to the bathroom for a cold shower. _Fuck_. What was he doing? They were here to find Bucky and rout this trafficking ring. That was the mission. Seducing Wren while she was asleep and incapable of consent was not the mission. Seducing Wren _in general_ was not the mission. He’d just wanted to help last night, comfort her through her nightmare, but he couldn’t even leave that as an innocent act. What was he going to do here? Much less when they got back, and he’d have to see her with Buck every damn day.

Wren woke up from the most crazy-vivid dream, feeling horny as hell. Shit. She could hear the water running and assumed Steve was in the shower. She wondered how long he’d been in there, if she might have time to…take care of herself. But she decided not to risk it: having her still-in-love-with-her ex-boyfriend walk out of the bathroom to find her touching herself was probably not the best way to kick off a mission to save her boyfriend (his best friend). Didn’t do much to solve the problem, though. She took a deep breath, trying to refocus her thoughts.

Why did the bed smell like Steve?

* * *

On the flight over, they had gone over Bucky’s notes and reports to piece together his last day of searching. He had spoken with 3 different contacts: one was very unlikely to be compromised, one was an old contact that had some history with Bucky. But the third was mostly a mystery. Buck had made some cursory notes about their alleged connection to the traffickers, but there wasn’t a lot of detail. They figured they would start there.

The two couldn’t agree on the best approach, though. The most hands-off way would be to pick up the work where Bucky left off, and case all the possible locations. But they agreed this was the slowest possible approach, and they didn’t think they had that kind of time. They could go in with the assumption they had the right person, interrogate them, and try to get information. But messing this up would blow the lead entirely, if they were wrong they could only fall back on the casing strategy. The last option was for one of them to be bait. Go to the contact, ask some questions, but also show off just a little power, and lie in wait, knowing an attack would come.

Wren thought if they’d just wanted to kill Bucky, they wouldn’t have taken a dead body with them, might as well leave the body there. And there hadn’t been enough blood at the scene, anyway. So they took a super soldier with a vibranium arm with them, which…they probably planned to sell him to the highest bidder, just like the kids. The story of the Winter Soldier wasn’t impossible to hear, they could be looking for a way to brainwash him again. What criminal billionaire wouldn’t want a superpowered bodyguard whose mind they could wipe of anything they didn’t want witnessed?

Of course now that she and Steve had a plan, who would be the bait, and who would monitor the situation was the biggest part of the argument. Steve was a celebrity in his own right, especially among people whose business was super-humans. But Wren had a history with this group. They couldn’t find hard evidence that it was exactly the same people, but their methods were the same as when she was a kid, so there had to be some connection, and surely they’d have some memory of Wren and what she did.

And, of course, Steve was hard-pressed to put her at risk. He knew he couldn’t fight her on this without bringing the breakup issues right to the surface. Wren also pointed out that Steve was in a better position to follow: he may have been garbage at trailing her during recruitment, but whoever was the tail needed speed more than subtlety. Whoever they kidnapped would be relatively safe: they’d be attacked, but then they’d be inside. The other person had to follow the attackers and then infiltrate. So it was a toss-up which roll was more dangerous.

Ultimately, Wren won. The contact owned a smoke shop, so it wasn’t hard to find, and when she went in, she waited until it emptied out, and very clearly used her echolocation to check if someone was in the back. Then she pleaded and begged about her missing boyfriend, that she was going to stay in his place in case he came back. Adding that she didn’t know anyone else in this city, the poor stranded American girl who, incidentally, no one would miss.

Steve was on the roof of the building, listening to the wire Wren had on her, and tracking the snitch’s phone activity. As soon as the door closed behind Wren, Steve picked up an outgoing call. He recorded the number it was to and set off a tracking program so they could trace the nearest cell towers it pinged off of. She left, ran some “errands” so Steve could watch for any tails, and then went back to the safehouse. She washed the bloodied sheets, and tidied up his things, like any distraught girlfriend would. Then she ordered a pizza from the same pizza place: they were pretty sure Bucky had been drugged if someone had gotten the drop on him like that. All that was left to do was wait.

They’d agreed Steve shouldn’t be in the safehouse. If someone was watching the place, it might deter them to see him, and anyway: they needed her to be taken, and for Steve to follow. If he came busting out of a closet the second they made their move on her, as he would be too tempted to do, they’d never find Buck. So she opened the curtains, and kept in constant communication with him in the apartment across the way.

“Wren, there’s something I should tell you,” Steve admitted after a while of idle chit-chat.

“Yeah?”

“Last night, in your sleep, you were…you seemed pretty upset.”

“Yeah…I’ve been having some bad dreams lately.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about, Steve. This whole mission is…it’s just a lot. The stuff from my past, worrying about the kids now, I’ve been having nightmares all week. And that was before Bucky…”

“All week? Wren, you could’ve talked to me!”

“And said what? ‘I’m scared, Steve, come rescue me’?”

“No, I just meant…I hope we can still be friends. You can talk to me.”

He heard her sigh over the comms. “I know, Steve. I just don’t always know what to say.”

The silence grew for just a moment, before he added, “Well, I should also tell you that I went into your room to check on you. You kind of pulled me into bed with you. Nothing happened! I just held you ‘til you calmed down, and then I fell asleep. There wasn’t any funny business, I promise.”

He felt like he could hear the facial expression he knew she was wearing. But, for good measure, she went to the window and looked up, eyebrow raised, at where she knew he was hiding in the darkness. “No ‘funny business,’ huh?”

“You know what I mean. I didn’t take advantage of you.”

She sighed, yet again. “I know, Steve, you wouldn’t do something like that. I trust you.”

She trusted him? Huh. He thought it was now or never, “Wren…why do you want so badly to see things through with Bucky? Are you in love with him?”

No sigh this time, and she didn’t brush him off. “It is _way_ too soon to be talking like that, Steve. He just…I don’t know. There’s something there. I don’t really know what it is yet. I’d just like to find out.”

“Something you didn’t have with me?”

“Not fair, Steve. You know I…wait, I think I heard something,” that urgent whisper was the last thing she said. He watched her hop into bed, try to look like she was asleep. He was kicking himself, he should have been watching the door of the building instead of the window where she stood. He watched through the scope and listened through her open comm channel as two men came in, punched her hard in the face, and then grabbed her and ran. The whole thing happened in a couple of seconds, and Steve ran from the room, ready to pursue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WHOLE NEW KINDS OF DRAMA! And, of course, the same ole drama! ALL THE DRAMA ALL THE TIME FOR EVERYONE!
> 
> I hope everyone's doing okay! I know the world is in total madness still, but with everything, I SUPER-appreciate every hit, kudo, and comment!


	30. Chapter 30

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a warning: this is a pretty violent chapter. There's death, but no named characters or children.

Wren gasped as someone splashed cold, metallic-smelling water into her face, waking her. She immediately assessed her surroundings: she was in a mostly dark room with a lamp shining in her eyes, she could tell there was a concrete floor, and that she was seated in a hard, high-backed chair. She couldn’t tell much else about the room, but she could tell from how she was bound that they at a minimum hadn’t figured out who she really was, because they hadn’t bothered to try to gag her or silence her in any way. They’d zip-tied her wrists in front of her, and her ankles, but she wasn’t even tied to the chair, and they hadn’t taken her “jewelry.” They didn’t think she was a threat.

There was obviously at least one other person in the room, so she used the one power they should know she had: echolocation.

“Are you some sort of…bat-girl?” she heard a sneering voice in the darkness, in front of her, to the left. She could tell there was another person holding the light a little to the right, and a sturdy closed door beyond him. As far as she could tell, another chair in front of her was the only furniture, and there were no windows. The walls seemed like they were stone or cement as well, not drywall.

“I…where am I? Who are you? What’s happening?” she pleaded, playing up the fear in her voice. Guys like this liked fear.

“It is our turn for questions first, I think. What is the clicking thing you do?”

“What? I don’t understand, what do you want from me?”

“Well, that is simple. Right now, we want to know what your powers are. Tell us now, or this will get…unpleasant.”

“Please, please don’t hurt me! I just…I can do the clicking thing, it’s echolocation. It helps me sense where things are without looking.”

“What can you tell me about this room?”

“There’s a chair in front of me. And you, plus the guy with the light. And the door is closed. I don’t…I don’t know what you want, please just tell me what you want!”

“Excellent, that is an interesting little talent you have. Do you have any others?”

“I…I don’t understand…”

“Any special talents? Special…powers? Can you move things with your mind, things like that?”

“What? No, of course not…”

The other man spoke up for the first time, saying something in Russian she couldn’t understand. The first man responded, “Well, I’m sure he can find something to do with her. Her talent could be useful, but she has other uses besides…”

When the man holding the light laughed along with him, she was ready to kill them on the spot, but first she tried, “You’ll regret this! My boyfriend won’t let you talk about me like that, he’ll kick your asses!”

“Your boyfriend? The guy with the metal arm? He’s a little…tied up at the moment.”

“What? Where is he, is he okay?”

“He’s just down the hall, darling. But you don’t need to worry about him anymore…” she could hear him stand to move towards her, and she was done playing this game. As quietly as she could manage, she let the highest note she could manage ring out into the room: the death note. The two men made little choking, gurgling sounds and fell to the ground, twitching. She had never actually used it on a human before. Once, by accident, she’d used it on a dog that had chased her, and it had horrified her so much she never even came close to trying it. She had sung it in the lab, but only after they assured her that they couldn’t hear her and that the recordings didn’t work the same as her actual voice. And now the light had dropped on its stand, and drooped down so it lit up the face of the man who’d been holding it seconds ago. But she had to focus, so she tried not to listen to the men die while she plucked a bobby pin out of her hair, broke it, and used it to get out of her zip ties.

She searched them, to see if they had any keys on them or anything. She hadn’t recognized the voices, they weren’t people from her past. And she imagined they weren’t high-up anyway, if they thought she was just a nosy girlfriend whose only talent was echolocation. And, hopefully, they didn’t bother telling anyone she was here. She found a huge ring of keys, and took their wallets in case there was a key card or anything. Surprisingly, neither of them seemed to have any kind of weapon on them. That was fine: she could be the weapon.

She listened at the door for a moment, earpiece on high, and didn’t hear anything. She whipped the door open, looked out quickly, and ducked back in the room. She didn’t see or hear anyone in that, so she went back out. She found herself towards the end of a long corridor, with vault-like doors sporadically along the length. Each door had a small video screen next to it, presumably showing the inside. There was an adjoining hallway ahead on her right, she could hear scuffling feet, hushed voices, and a couple shouted commands. She crept closer, listening as hard as she could, and there was shouting over their radios before they all suddenly went quiet. She quickly and silently ran the rest of the way to the hall, not sure what she would find there but preferring to get the drop on them instead of letting them get the drop on her.

It was a bunch of guards, all facing away from her. They all appeared to be armed with at least batons or tasers, but she couldn’t see all of them to tell if they had guns. But there were no children, and the door at the other side of the hall was sealed, the only noises were coming from her radio. She observed all this instantaneously, and reacted just as quickly: she used Tony’s new device, disguised as a choker-style necklace that looked like it had a stone in the middle, but functioned almost like a lens for her voice, allowing her to shape and direct a note more specifically. She faced straight down the hall and shrieked the death note.

If she had been even 5 seconds later, it would have been the biggest mistake of her life. The door on the opposite end of the hall swung open, and Steve’s head appeared briefly in the doorway. When he stepped through, his eyes got wide when he saw all the bodies littering the floor, twitching and bleeding from the ears as they died.

Wren didn’t have time to deal with whatever Steve was thinking, she just said “This corridor is full of vaults, I haven’t had time to check, but Bucky must be in one of them. Have you seen the children?”

Steve shook himself off, “No. Not yet.”

Wren didn’t respond, just started moving down the hall, looking at the video screens. She saw kids in a couple of them, and shouted over her shoulder at Steve which ones weren’t empty. After the fifth cell, she found him. She turned the crank to open the door, found herself in a clear box, almost like an airlock. There was a keycard access, and she pawed at it with the wallets she’d grabbed from her interrogators. When it beeped, she slammed through the inner door, and when she saw him, she felt like she couldn’t breathe. He was slouched over in a chair, she couldn’t tell if he was even conscious. The chair had bindings that almost made it look like an electric chair, but stronger.

“Buck?” she finally managed.

With considerable effort, he pulled his face up, and huffed out, “Saved by the princess.”

She closed the distance, cupping his face in her hands, checking for injuries. He was covered in dried blood and some bruises, but when she figured he wasn’t hurt too badly, she kissed him. She kept holding his face for a moment, forehead resting against him, and a few tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. But then she straightened up, and swiped them away.

“Glad you missed me, doll. I’d hold you, but…” he lifted his arms against his restraints, and tried to shrug.

“Well, we can discuss who can tie up whom later. For now, let’s get you out of this.” She went to the back, figuring that had to be where the control was. “Shit. You wouldn’t happen to know the code, would you?”

“Weirdly, they didn’t tell me,” Bucky shrugged again.

The keypad was all metal, so she made a guess. She opened her mouth wide to breathe on it, and sure enough: in the freezing cold room, there were 4 keys that her breath didn’t condense the same on, because of the oily residue from people’s fingers. She rolled her eyes and grumbled as she pressed 1-3-9-7. It beeped and the green light flashed, and she could hear the clicking of all of the restraints being released.

Bucky sagged forward and she darted to the front of the chair to catch him, “Buck? Are you okay? What did they do to you?”

“I’m mostly exhausted, they haven’t let me sleep since they grabbed me, and they’ve been using me as a punching bag. But no big injuries, I don’t think anything is broken, no major internal damage.”

“Can you walk?”

“Yeah, but I wouldn’t be worth much in a fight.”

“I don’t think there’s going to be much additional fighting. But stick with me, just in case.”

He grinned at her, “I don’t plan on leaving your side ever, if I can help it, doll. You save my ass every time.”

She smiled back at him and kissed him. Part of her had been worried that rescuing him like this would be some sort of threat to his manhood. He’d been supportive, ever since the first mission they’d had together. But there was a difference between believing in your teammate’s abilities and getting rescued by your girlfriend. But, apparently, Bucky either didn’t see or didn’t care about the difference.

She helped him up and got him to the hall, as Steve was approaching the first occupied cell with a key card. “Glad you found him, Wren. Could you help me? In case the kids are scared? I can’t tell from the displays what their powers are supposed to be, so if any of them freaks out…”

“You might want someone on hand with a lullaby?”

“Exactly.”

“What did you see on the way in? Did you find…”

He cut her off, “I’m sorry, Wren. Marco and the others got away. I didn’t sweep the entire building, so there might have been someone there. But I got rushed when I came in the door, and saw his squad scurry out the door when I was fighting.”

Wren had fresh tears spring to her eyes, and looked like she was about to explode. Steve flinched a little, he couldn’t tell if she was going to punch something or scream, but neither was going to end safely.

He continued, “I know, Wren. And we’ll get them. _You’ll_ get them. But let’s get these kids to safety.”

Steve and Bucky watched her try to exert her will on her body to calm herself down. She was still clearly furious, but was outwardly calming down. When she looked like she had her facial expressions and body language back under control, she nodded, and Steve turned back to the door to open it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shit, Wren. Hardcore. 
> 
> There's gonna be a lot of feelings and sexy-times this week! Not that you really need a warning, just thought you should know, it's not 100% MAX DRAMA ALL THE TIME FOREVER. There's going to be some sweetness and hotness. I haven't been writing a lot lately, and have been zipping through my backlog of chapters, so if you have any inspiration tingles to send my way, send 'em, because I'm flat out after next week. But OH THE CRAZINESS NEXT WEEK WILL BRING!


	31. Chapter 31

The atmosphere in Quinjet on the way home was darker than Steve would have expected. He’d thought Wren would be relieved after finding Bucky, and her mood would be improved. And it _was_ …somewhat. But everything they’d accomplished, freeing the kids, saving Bucky, destroying their facility, was overshadowed by the fact that they hadn’t caught the leaders. That even wasn’t fully it: she was consumed by the fact that they hadn’t destroyed the leaders. He couldn’t entirely blame her; they had bounced back from her actions when she was 14, they would certainly bounce back now. And now they were in the wind, and still surely had the resources to set up shop anywhere in the world.

Bucky slept most of the way back. He’d given them the brief version of events, and it pretty much aligned with what they’d figured out on their own. They got the kids to safety at the appropriate embassies: all of them were old enough to not only have discovered their powers but have some facility in hiding or suppressing them, and Steve wanted to use the proper channels to get them home, and attempt to work with local law enforcement to keep an eye out for Marco and his cronies. Wren didn’t see the point: Marco was long gone. But Steve was by-the-book.

Wren spent most of the flight quietly trying to do more research, but that was where Steve didn’t see the point: they weren’t going to find them until they settled somewhere else. Travelling unseen was Marco’s specialty, that’s how they could find these kids anywhere in the world and get them where he wanted them. He was a ghost.

Bucky woke up about an hour from the compound, and when she heard him stretch and groan, she went back to him. “Hey, Buck. Mind if I join you?” She tucked some hair behind her ear. She wondered why she felt so shy all of a sudden.

He rolled on his side and made room for her in the small bunk. “Of course, doll. C’mere. Tell me how you’re doing.”

She felt her stomach clutch when he grinned and reached for her. “I wanna know how _you’re_ doing. I mean…I know what happened, but how are you feeling?”

“Actually…pretty good. It wasn’t…it wasn’t like Hydra. They didn’t have the tech to keep me frozen, or to control me. It wasn’t fun or anything, but it also helped that I knew that it would end. I knew you and Steve would stop at nothing to find me. And I knew that brain of yours would find them in no time. It was just a question of when and how.”

Her eyebrows raised a bit, and the corner of her mouth quirked up, “Really?”

“Really. So, now tell me what’s going on with you. You don’t seem…right.”

Wren started to tear up a little. “I’ve got something to tell you and I don’t know how you’ll take it.”

“Just tell me, doll. Get it out.”

“Steve kissed me. Back at the compound. I was over-emotional and over-tired and lonely and…it didn’t go any farther than that. I promise, I…”

“Don’t worry about it, doll. I can’t even imagine all you were going through, and I feel awful I couldn’t be there to help.”

“What? No, you must not have heard me right, I’m saying…”

“You were working yourself to the bone. I could tell over video that you were tearing yourself up about this whole thing. I can’t be mad at you because you were vulnerable.”

“But I…”

“You and Steve are exes, and everything has been so messy and complicated for you two. It’s not like I don’t know all the gory details about it. But I know you chose me, and you kept choosing me. You saved my life, Wren. I just can’t make myself get mad at you just because, in a moment of utter exhaustion, Steve kissed you.”

“Are you mad at Steve?”

“Let me talk to Steve. But, as I’m pretty sure he can hear this whole conversation and hasn’t stormed back here to fight me over you, I think I’ve got a pretty good idea what he has to say.”

“Are you sure, Buck?”

“I’m positive, doll. Don’t worry about it. I’m pretty sure you’ve got something else that’s bothering you, anyway.”

She sighed and harrumphed, “I’m just pissed we didn’t catch those assholes.”

“That’s it?”

“Yeah.”

“So killing a dozen men with your power is no big deal?”

“Well…”

“Well…?”

“It probably will be. I haven’t thought very hard about it yet.”

“You gonna talk to someone when we get back?” he asked, and she looked at him a little blankly. He clarified, “A therapist or something?”

“Um…”

“There’s one on staff. Wren: talk to them. I mean it. How do you think I could keep my cool during all that?”

“Okay. I’ll talk to them. Can I tell you something, first?”

“What’s that, doll?”

“I missed you,” she smiled, and moved her hand just under his shirt.

“Hey there, not much longer ‘til we get back…”

“I know, I just…I wanted to touch you.”

He gave a little hum of approval, and moved so his lips brushed her ear as he said, “The feeling’s mutual, kid. I just don’t think I’d have an easy time stopping myself, and there’s not much privacy here for what I want to do to you.” The hitch in her breath as his teeth closed on her ear lobe made him smile.

“Tell me…” she breathed.

Even though his mouth couldn’t be any closer to her ear, she could barely hear him say, “Oh…sweetness. I think it might be better as a surprise. I was even thinking…nah, maybe I shouldn’t tell you…”

“Please, Buck…” she sighed.

“There’s my girl! My sweet, sweet girl, begging for it. That’s what I like to hear.”

He felt her fingernails digging into his skin, felt her cheek move when she smiled and said, “Do you want to hear about how wet I am for you?”

He had to suppress a moan at that. “I do…but I think it might be for the best if we wait until I can find out for myself.”

Their lips met, and it took every ounce of both of their self-control to pull away. They rested their foreheads together and simultaneously sighed, “Fuuuck,” laughing at themselves.

Bucky only managed to rein himself with a calm, contended sense of rightness. He’d met a lot of women in his life. Before the war, he thought he fell in love with all of them. Every curving waist, every pretty smile left him a heartbeat away from fantasies ranging from a night together to a life together. Of course, just as quickly, the fantasies dissolved, and he’d move on to the next one. But this…it was like fitting a puzzle piece. No: it was better. It was like he’d been living his whole life in a house; he knew every inch of it, thought he knew every secret. But then she waltzed in, and opened a door he’d never noticed, and he was discovering a whole new, beautiful wing to the house that he didn’t even know was there.

Shit. They’d been together for, even by the most generous reckoning, a week and a half. And he was already completely, fully, deeply, head-over-heels in love with her.

* * *

When they got home, Bucky was tempted to throw Wren over his shoulder and take her directly to his room, but Steve wanted to talk. She’d picked Buck’s pocket for his key card before he could even turn to her and propose she meet him in his room. He and Steve watched her walk out of the hangar. Steve broke the silence, “Buck, I know she’d kill me for saying this, but Wren is not doing okay.”

“She said she’s pissed they got away. And I know killing all those people couldn’t have been easy. She said she’d see the shrink.”

“I know, I could hear. I just wanted you to know…even before you went missing, she was too close to this. She was _relentless_. It wasn’t healthy, not for Wren. When you disappeared, she was spiraling. There was no way to stop her, all I could do was try to keep her safe. And what she did in that hallway…”

Bucky nodded, and they just stood there for a moment. He finally said, “Have you even tried to get over her?”

Steve sighed, “Yes. She just…”

Bucky returned his sigh, “I know. I couldn’t get over her, either.” He almost laughed. “What are we going to do here, Steve?”

“I dunno, Buck. I don’t want to fight you for her. That wouldn’t work for Wren, either.”

Now Bucky did chuckle, “She’d kill us both.”

“I…I just _need_ her, Buck. Maybe she can’t be part of my life like that, but…”

“You want to be ‘just friends’? Come on, Steve. I’ve only been with her a week, and I know it can’t be that easy.”

“It’s not easy. Nothing about this is _easy_. But taking anything she can give is better than nothing at all.”

Buck nodded. He knew exactly how that felt.

* * *

When Bucky got back to his room, he heard her turn on the shower. When he walked in, she was standing with her back towards him, but watching him in the mirror. Wordlessly, she wrapped her arms around her waist and pulled her shirt up, over her head, casually discarding it. He stood in the doorway and watched the show, as she reached around back to unhook her bra, and let it fall to the ground. She pulled her leggings and panties off, bending all the way over. He could tell from where he stood she was already soaked. “You weren’t lying: you _were_ wet for me,” he observed. “Were you playing with yourself while you were waiting?”

“No, just thinking about what kind of surprises you had in store for me.”

“Wren, do you trust me?” he asked. When she turned to face him and nodded, he clarified, “You know I need to hear you say it, doll.”

She licked her lips, “Yes, Buck. I trust you.”

“Can I trust you to tell me if you don’t like something, or don’t want something?”

“Yes.”

“Then how do you feel about being told what to do?” He saw a little shiver run through her body, and said, “Let me rephrase… _tell me_ how you feel about being told what to do.”

Her breathing was getting heavier and he hadn’t even touched her. She really didn’t need to say it for him to know the answer, but that was part of the game. “Your wish is my command, Buck.”

“Undress me,” he grinned at her. She didn’t even try to suppress her smile or the twinkle in her eye. She practically pounced on him, pulling his t-shirt up until he took over, pulling it over his head and off his arms. She started to kiss his chest, run her hands over his body, when he chided her, “Uh-uh, I didn’t say you could do that…”

She pouted a little, but knelt and moved on to undoing his belt and unbuttoning his fly. She took great pains to slowly slide his clothes down his ass, and then moved her hands to the front to lift the waistband to clear his erection. When his pants were around his ankles, he pulled them off the rest of the way. He ran his fingers through her hair, admiring the sight of her on her knees, naked, in front of him.

“Do you want to suck it?”

“God, yes,” she exhaled in a rush.

“That’s my girl! But not yet. Get in the shower,” he demanded, offering a hand to help her up, but then slapping her ass when she turned around. He stepped in after her, “ _Now_ you can touch me. Wash me.”

She looked like she was about to start salivating, but she grabbed the shampoo, and worked it through his short hair. God, he was starting to see why she liked having her hair pulled. Feeling her fingernails scraping across his scalp was giving him goosebumps, he didn’t really want her to stop. But there were other more important parts to get to, so he rinsed her work away, and she went to grab the soap. She wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself close while she spread the soap over the expanse of his back. She snuck a little kiss on his chest, but he just smiled and let it slide. She washed his arms, giving him a quick look before she washed the metal one, and he nodded in return. She even, thoughtfully, just built up a lather and washed the metal arm with that, so bits of the bar of soap wouldn’t scrape off where the plates met. His heart warmed when he noticed what she was doing, but quickly moved on as she started to wash his chest and stomach. She locked eyes with him as her hands worked lower and held his gaze as her fingers traced along his hips, and she knelt again, and sat back with her legs tucked under her. She grinned up at him as her hands kept going, past his cock, down his legs. She gave him a scrunched-nose smile, enjoying the small upper hand she had for the moment.

She finally moved her hands where they both wanted them. She worked the lather around the base, over his balls, then, ever so slowly, up his shaft. She languorously stroked him a couple times, paying close attention to his head before pumping her hand back down. But then she sat up on her knees, spread her hands over his hips before moving them around to his ass. Grabbing him by both cheeks, she pressed him into her, his cock fitting perfectly between her breasts.

That did him in, he finally broke eye contact to throw his head back and groan, tilting his hips against her. “ _Fuck_ , Wren,” was all he could manage, but he gathered himself. He wasn’t going to last as long as she deserved at this rate. “Get up,” he half-yanked her to her feet and kissed her, tongue delving in to taste her. She was breathing hard, little whimpers issuing from her throat, clutching him to her. She did, however, have her senses about her enough to grab the hand-held shower nozzle, and start spraying down his back. He took it from her to put it between them, holding their bodies minutely apart to feel the water pour over them.

“Now wash yourself,” he told her, and she stepped back and did as he asked. She knew how to make a show of it and drive him wild, too. Hands sliding over her body, making a few passes over every curve, delaying their arrival at the places he was most interested in. But then, he was pretty sure her nipples would be cleaner than they’d ever been before, with the amount of attention she paid them. He kept control of the hand nozzle, and carefully rinsed her off when she was all lathered-up. She started to step towards him, assuming the game was done. But he stopped her, “I want to see you touch yourself. Get on the bench.”

Her eyes widened a little in surprise, but she complied. She looked a little unsure of herself when she sat, and he said, “Trust me, doll.” She leaned back, moving her hands over her body. She tentatively spread her legs a little, and he shook his head. “I need a better look than that,” he chided before spreading her, lifting her legs and settling the backs of her knees on his shoulders. “That’s more like it,” his voice rumbled low with lust. “Now do it. I want to see you touch yourself.”

“But Buck, I…”

“Do you want to stop?”

“N…no,” she managed.

“ _Then touch yourself_.”

Her eyes were locked with his as her fingers moved down her slit, and he had trouble deciding which he wanted to watch more: her fingers or her face. He couldn’t choose, so his eyes flitted back and forth, watching her gasp and her pussy quiver. It was hard to resist tasting her when she was so close, but he managed to hold back and watch as her fingers moved inside her, her other hand tugging at her nipple.

Her gasps turned to little whines of frustration, he could see her building towards a climax. “Stop,” he commanded. She looked at him hopefully, but it turned into that whimper he loved so much when he moved her legs off his shoulders. But she didn’t have to wait long, he quickly repositioned himself and he was inside her, to the hilt, in one smooth thrust. She cried out, throwing her head back, but he grabbed her by the back of the neck. “Look at me,” he ground out. Her lashes fluttered from the effort of trying to keep her eyes open, but she kept her eyes on his. She was so wet, he didn’t give her the luxury of time to adjust before he slammed into her again, a keening sound coming from her as he increased the pace. “Come for me,” he ordered, and she instantly fell apart, through her impossible wetness he could feel her clenching in waves, eyes squeezed shut.

He was driving towards his own climax when her eyes popped open. “Pull out!” she reminded him. This time it was his turn to follow orders, and the second he did, her hand was on him, pumping him against her clit until he came, covering her.

They breathed against each other for a moment, before she started, “Sorry, I…”

“No, never apologize for that, baby. I asked you to trust me and I almost blew it, that was on me. I’m the one who should apologize.”

“Don’t,” she shushed him, running her thumb over his lips. She dipped a hand between their still-panting bodies, and drew it back up, fingers coated in their combined pleasure. She sucked her fingers into her mouth, and he felt an involuntary moan bubble up at the sight. Her smile spoke more than her words possibly could.

 _Perfect_ , he thought. She was so completely perfect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It was about damn time for some smut! But also feelings! How are y'all feeling?


	32. Chapter 32

When they got home, Wren was focused. It was understood that continuing the research into the trafficking ring was her sole responsibility for the time. Fortunately, it was a generally slow time for the Avengers. It was December, and while it wasn’t like bad-guys took the month off, things seemed mostly quiet. Steve kept an eye on things, but he’d sent most everyone home or on “missions” that were clearly just fun for the holidays, like sending Nat to protect Clint’s family (despite no reason to believe they’d be threatened). They could be recalled in a heartbeat if necessary. So it was just Steve, Bucky, and Wren at the compound.

They’d settled into a sort of routine. During the day, they would rotate between general monitoring, monitoring the traffickers, and a little training here and there. Bucky tried his best to keep up with them, but this wasn’t exactly his specialty. He supported them the best he could. But usually wandered in and out, leaving them to analyze, strategize. There was nothing physical, they both guarded against it, it was all mental and a bit emotional. The days were Steve’s.

But the evenings belonged to Bucky. Sometimes they would hang out as a trio, make or order dinner, maybe watch a movie. But most nights, he got Wren to himself. They’d go out on dates occasionally, but mostly just stay in and never leave the bed. It wasn’t all sex, they spent plenty of time talking, too. He felt like he was falling more in love with her every day, he just needed _her_ to say it.

And Wren felt…almost peaceful. Balanced. Spending her days with Steve, thinking through complex problems, trying to solve them, considering all the possibilities, strategizing in uncertainty, it was…amazing. She felt closer to Steve than she had when they were dating, in no small part because he wasn’t just vaguely aware of her abilities, he was relying on her intelligence. It felt good to be appreciated. And, she had to admit, it felt good to spend time with Steve. It made the exhausting parts, the boring parts, the frustrating parts, even the somewhat traumatic parts so much better to deal with. Spending her nights with Bucky rounded everything out. She didn’t have to be smart, didn’t have to save the world, didn’t have to be in control. She could surrender herself to Buck, physically and emotionally.

She just couldn’t let herself put too much thought into the fact that, whichever man she was with, she didn’t want to be anywhere else.

One bright December morning, just before Christmas, Steve came rushing into the kitchen, “Wren! We’ve got a ping! You were right…”

“Brazil?” Wren asked

“Brazil.” Steve nodded

São Paulo was where they had taken her when she was a kid. They knew it was her that was on their tail and they were taunting her. “That fucking bastard,” she ground out. “How soon can we be wheels up?”

They negotiated a time to leave, agreed all three of them would go. There would have been no sense fighting about it anyway: none of them would have taken staying home easily. So they went to their respective rooms to pack. Bucky finished quickly, as he’d wear pretty much the same things no matter where he wound up, so he went over to Wren’s room. She was already almost done, just trying to sort out if she had any clothing items that would help her blend in a little more locally.

“Hey Wren, just wanted to check on you, see if you needed any help,” he tried to be casual as he shut the door behind him.

“Hey babe! I think I’m good, just getting the last couple of things together.”

“Well, since we have plenty of time before we need to be in the hangar, is there any other way I can…distract you?” he’d walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, nuzzling into her neck.

“Well, I don’t think we’ve got time for a proper distraction, much less clean-up.”

“True, you can be a real mess, doll.”

She spun in his arms to face him, “Hey now! Better watch what you complain about, mister…”

“Who’s complaining?” he backed her up to the bed and lay her down on it. “It’s one of my favorite qualities about you.”

“Wow, probably lucky for me you’re a hundred years old, because that would be quite something to tell your mom about…”

“Well, I said it’s _one_ of my favorites, I’ve got other things I could write home about.”

She had wrapped herself around him, in a position that was somehow simultaneously erotic and completely innocent for them. She just loved holding him and being held by him, if it wouldn’t be weird, she’d want him to carry her around like this all the time. And she knew he’d probably do it, too, which made it even more fun. “Well that’s good to know that you’re not just using me for my dripping pu-”

He cut her off with a kiss, then “Don’t say it, doll, or I won’t be able to help myself, and we’ll _definitely_ be late.”

“Oh fine, spoilsport. But _you_ started it.” She looked up at him for a little while, trying to read him. He got this way, sometimes, where she could tell there was something going on, but she couldn’t quite figure out what was bothering him. “What’s on your mind, good-lookin’? You look like you’re a thousand miles away already.”

“Don’t stress about it, doll.”

“That’s gotta be the most stressful response you could’ve given! Buuuuck!” she squeezed his face between her hands. “Just tell me. Things are about to get pretty crazy, I’m already keyed up. If it’s something stressful, it won’t make it much worse. If it’s not that bad, then it’s not that bad. I…just tell me.”

“Doll, I promise, it’s nothing bad. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a lot, but you have a lot on your plate, so I don’t want to add to it.”

“How can you dig yourself in so deep without even using a shovel? I’m terrible about surprises! What if I _guess_ it?” She still had her legs wrapped around his hips, but she was using her hands to mess with his face whenever he wasn’t talking. Stretching it, smooshing it, making him smile or frown. And he was trying not to laugh at her antics.

“You’re welcome to try,” he offered.

“Let’s see…it’s not bad, you’ve been thinking about it a lot, but it might be stressful to me? Hmm. Well…are you grossed out that I don’t like pineapple? We can work through it, babe!”

He took her hands in his and kissed the knuckles, smiling, “Nope. Guess again.”

“Did you want to get a cat, but I’m allergic?”

“Nope. More of a dog person.”

“Okay, I’ve got another guess.”

“Okay. Let’s hear it.”

“Well, what if, instead of guessing, I could assure you it wouldn’t stress me out?”

“Oh reeeally? Wren, this whole _thing_ is stressing you out, I really don’t think…”

“I love you, James Buchanan Barnes.”

There it was. She just _said_ it. With a smile that was an insane mix of excited and sentimental and somehow _smug_ …she said it.

He grinned back, “Wren Ava Gold, I love _you_.”

He couldn’t stop smiling as he kissed her. He’d never felt anything like this, it was like he was going to explode. He knew why _he_ was in love with _her_ , she was amazing. But _she_ was in love with _him_ , too? He was, without a doubt, the luckiest guy in the world.

She flipped him so he lay under her and held his hands to the bed. Her eyes sparkled, “So…was I right? I was right, wasn’t I?”

He lovingly rolled his eyes a little, “Yes, you were right.”

“Yes! Those are some of my favorite words! You really must love me if you’re willing to give that up so easily.”

“I do, that’s exactly right, I’m glad you can see the sacrifice I’m willing to make.”

“Oh, Buck, you’re the bravest. It’s part of why I love you!” she gave a smug smile again and kissed him. “Think we have time for a quickie before we go? Condom for easier cleanup?”

“God, I love you…” he said into her neck, kissing it as he rolled her back under him.

The flight down to São Paulo had Wren a little fidgety. Bucky was flying, freeing up her and Steve to strategize and plan what they should do when they landed. She had an almost frenetic energy and had to force herself to stop glancing up towards the front of the Quinjet. But even when she could stay focused, Steve could pick up on the change in her.

“You seem…happy,” he ventured, looking at her with his head tilted.

“I am. Things are good! I’m just…we’re going to get them, Steve! I can feel it, we’re so close, and this is going to be it. All our research, all our hard work…”

“It’s thanks to you, Wren. You’ve been incredible.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you, Steve. Thank you so much, I know you have so many other things to think about. It’s meant the world to me how supportive you’ve been.” Even in the dim light of the plane, he could see her eyes were shining when she looked up at him.

He reeled her in for a hug, and she gladly wrapped herself in his arms. “I’m just glad to see you happy again, Wren. I missed seeing that smile on your face.” _And that I could have some small part in putting it there means everything to me_ , he finished in his head. He looked up and saw Bucky watching them. He wasn’t entirely surprised; he knew Bucky would have been able to hear them. He’d been careful not to overstep since they got back from Russia. Bucky had given him that respect, he thought returning it would be the least he could do. He hadn’t said anything to Wren that was inappropriate, and generally kept their physical contact to a minimum. But he couldn’t stop himself from holding her in that moment, whether Bucky knew it or not.

What surprised him was the look on Bucky’s face. It wasn’t jealous, or suspicious. It wasn’t sad, or angry. Bucky smiled at him, genuinely and warmly. Steve would spend the rest of the flight wondering what that smile meant.

By the time they landed and made it to the safehouse, it was late and they were all tired. Wren went out to grab some food while they set up. Steve didn’t know what to say to Buck. There was something weird in the air that didn’t seem to have anything to do with the mission. Bucky and Wren both seemed in great spirits, but there was something strange in the way Bucky would look at Steve. He tried to shake it off.

Wren came back with almost more food than she could carry, ready to handle super soldier metabolism. It worked well for her, though, it meant that she could order a ton of different kinds of foods for them and steal little bites of everything. She knew they had a big, stressful mission in front of them, but she felt prepared, almost even excited. And she tried to remember when she’d felt quite as happy as she did, laughing with her two boys over dinner.

Shortly after dinner was cleared, they got ready for bed. The safehouse only had one bedroom, which Steve conceded to the couple. Wren tried to argue that she should take the couch, as she was the smallest, but she knew it was a futile argument. After everyone was settled and Steve turned out the lights, Bucky quickly went to get some water. But Steve noticed that when he went back in the bedroom, he didn’t shut the door all the way, and a beam of light fell out into the living room. Steve rolled over and ignored it, trying to do some breathing exercises, get his mind of the mission and the weirdness with Bucky long enough to fall asleep.

Steve was almost out when he heard a little noise that brought him immediately, fully awake. It was a sound imprinted so deep in him, he would recognize it anywhere: a little whimpering noise that only could have come from Wren, and only when she was getting close to coming. _Shit_. In the compound, things were pretty solidly sound-proofed, but especially Wren’s room. They’d done that before she arrived, before they had an understanding of her powers, but of course it had the benefit of meaning he hadn’t needed to worry much about hearing her and Bucky together. Of course, now that he was right outside a very normal bedroom door, he’d thought they might cool their jets for one fucking night, but no. Bucky hadn’t even closed the door all the way.

He rolled over and got up, ready to shut the door for them. He was trying to decide if he should do it quietly so he wouldn’t seem like a perv, or loudly so they would realize what they were doing, when he saw…everything. Through the crack in door, he could see Bucky sitting with his back against the headboard, Wren between his legs with her back against his chest. Her head was thrown back over his shoulder, Bucky’s hand covering her mouth while he whispered something in her ear. But the part that stopped him in his tracks: Wren was completely nude, legs pulled up bent and spread wide while Bucky’s metal hand fingered her. She was writhing, grasping at his arms while his fingers plunged into her at an almost punishing speed.

Steve felt his hand move to his cock, seeing Wren like that had made him instantly hard. He was trying to force himself to just do what he’d come over here to do: shut the door and walk away, but he couldn’t. Now he could smell her, and hear what Bucky was saying to her. It was…not how he had talked to Wren when they were dating. If he didn’t have contrary evidence right before his eyes, he would have assumed Wren would kill a man for talking to her like that. Then Bucky told her to come…and she did. Steve couldn’t see her face, but his memory was happy to fill in the blanks, he knew the expression that went with her muscles clenching up like that.

She sagged back against him, breathing hard. Bucky released her face, kissed her. He put his soaking fingers in her mouth, had her lick and suck them clean before kissing her again. Again, Steve tried to convince himself to just shut the door and go back to the couch. Again, he was frozen on the spot, this time as he watched Wren move down his body, watched her ass stick up in the air while she sucked Bucky’s cock, giving him a perfect view of her glistening pussy. And he stayed frozen when Bucky pushed her onto her stomach on the bed, pulling her hair, grabbing her throat, fucking her _hard_. Steve hardly realized he was stroking himself in rhythm with them. He watched Bucky pull both her arms back behind her, lifting her off the bed, saw her face as she tried not to scream out in ecstasy as she came. Steve and Bucky followed her almost instantly.

Steve quietly made it back to the couch. Just in time, because he heard the sounds of Bucky getting up and moving towards the door. Steve heard his friend give a small huff of air, almost a laugh, before he flipped off the lights and shut the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Buuuuuuuck...what are you dooooooing?
> 
> So, I have a bit of a problem. I've been having some writer's block. At the pace I've been updating, I have a week's worth of updates left. And I might break through that and get a couple more chapters written in that time, but I think it's pretty unlikely at this point. So, the choices are:  
> a. I keep updating at the current pace, and then when I run out of chapters, I go on hiatus until I work through some shit.  
> b. I go down to once a week to buy some time. 
> 
> I'm inclined to go with B, but if anyone would hate that, let me know over the weekend!


	33. Chapter 33

Bucky snuck out of bed before Wren woke up. The plan for the op hadn’t involved anything particularly early, so normally he would take the opportunity to sleep in a little with her, but he knew Steve was an early riser. Sure enough, when he opened the bedroom door, he saw the bedding Steve had used in a neat pile next to the sofa, and his clothes neatly stashed in his bag, plus the smell of coffee brewing in the air.

He went to the kitchen, and found Steve sitting at the small table, brooding over an almost untouched mug. “Hey Steve, how’d you sleep last night?”

“Not great,” Steve grunted.

Bucky pulled out the chair next to him, asking, “Why’s that? Did something keep you up?”

Steve studied his face for a moment, and then realized what had really happened, “Did you do that on purpose?”

“Do what?” Bucky grinned innocently.

“You left the door open on purpose last night.”

“Did you enjoy the show?”

“Why _the fuck_ would you do that? I get it: you won. She chose you. You don’t need to rub it in.”

“That wasn’t what I was doing, Steve.”

“Well, what the fuck _were_ you doing, then?”

“What would you say if I told you Wren was still in love with you?”

“I’d say fucking her in front of me is a funny way of showing that.”

“You’re missing my point, Steve. I wasn’t doing that to show off, or rub it in. You still love her too, right?”

“You know the answer to that.”

“What I’m saying is…if Wren loves both of us, and we both love her, I don’t see why you have to be out on the couch.” Bucky sat back, watching the thoughts and emotions play across his best friend’s face: anger to confusion, then dawning realization, landing on consternation.

Finally, Steve asked, “Is this what Wren wants?”

“I haven’t asked her yet. I figured I’d check with you, first.”

Steve raised an eyebrow, “Wren might kill you for that alone.”

“I know, but you’re my best friend. Always have been, always will be. If you weren’t even open to it, it seemed a little cruel to have Wren put herself out there and force you to reject her.”

“I guess that makes sense. But…why? Why now?”

Bucky nodded, it was a good question. “She told me she loves me.”

Steve looked completely incredulous, “And the first thing you do is offer her up to another man?”

“No, it’s not like that. The whole time I’ve been with her, I knew she was just ‘seeing where things went’ with me. And it’s been _amazing_ , she’s just…well, you know how she is. But she _clearly_ still loved you. I didn’t need to ask her, I could see it in the way she looks at you, the way you two work together. When she told me she loved me, it was incredible. But I realized yesterday on the flight that her heart is big enough that she can hold both of us in it. And I haven’t been jealous of the time you’ve spent with her. I mean, when the two of you were dating, it was hard. But it wasn’t hard the way I thought it would be. I wasn’t mad at you because you got her attention, I just wanted some of that attention for myself. And the whole time I’ve been with her, her attention was split anyway. And I was fine with that.”

“So, you want to…share?”

“If it makes Wren happy and it makes you happy, it’ll make me happy.”

“I’m going to have to think about this.”

“Steve, you think too much. Sometimes you’ve just gotta…go for it.”

Their enhanced hearing could pick out the sounds of Wren starting to rouse and throwing some clothes on before coming out to find them. She padded into the kitchen in one of Bucky’s hoodies and a pair of her own shorts, yawning and smiling as she walked over to Buck and wrapped her arms around him, kissing the top of his head. After she’d wished them good morning, she went to get herself a glass of water.

Bucky looked at Steve out of the corner of his eye. And when he saw him give an almost imperceptible nod, Bucky smiled broadly.

* * *

The plan was simple: all three of them would do recon together, and look for a sign Marco was there, and then go for it. In case they tried to use the kids against them, Wren could put everyone to sleep, so she would go first. Tony had made a shaper for Wren’s voice, so she could direct it more, and inhibitors for Buck and Steve to wear, to give them some protection. They were prototypes, so it would be risky for her to try it with the death note or even the pain note, and any kids in the area would have no protection either, but she was reasonably confident she could use them to put selective people to sleep, without putting her boys out of commission.

Marco and his crew could ID all of them, so they had to be careful with their recon. The facility they were using was an old factory, kind of a squat shape, and Steve was able to keep an eye from a couple stories up. Buck and Wren were on the ground, their positions triangulated with Steve so hopefully if things went south for any of them one of the others could get eyes on it. Steve was wishing they’d brought more of the team for backup, but he knew Wren needed to do this, so he had to balance that against the risks. Marco’s team didn’t have many people with powers, anyone with any powers of value got sold. So they were mostly just up against very immoral people with guns. They should be able to handle it.

The corner they had scoped out for Wren to be on was more exposed than Steve liked, so they had a last-minute change, and positioned her in an abandoned storefront. It was a rough part of town, so Bucky blended in with some of the downtrodden denizens at the mouth of an alley that had a good view of the front entrance to the building. While they waited, they chatted over the comms.

“I was thinking about what we should do to celebrate when we get this guy,” Bucky said.

Wren’s smile was audible when she responded, “Oh reeeeally? I’d love to hear what you had in mind…”

Steve interjected, “You know it’s not just two of you on this line, right?”

Bucky replied, “I know, I wasn’t planning on leaving you out, bud!”

Wren responded, “Of course! Steve, we wouldn’t be here without you, you deserve a special celebration, too!”

Bucky chuckled, “You read my mind, doll.”

“Fun! What were you thinking, Buck?” she asked.

“Well, that depends on you, Wren. I was wondering what you think about…”

Steve interrupted him, “Buck, come on. Now is not the time.”

Bucky countered, “No time like the present, Stevie-boy! Did you want to ask instead?”

“Bucky, I’m serious. We’re on an op right now. Stay focused.”

“Don’t be a spoilsport, Steve! Give Wren something to look forward to!”

“Bucky, I don’t want to pull rank, but I swear to god, if you don’t shut the fuck up…”

“Fine, Steve. If you don’t want to go into the city when we get back and do some Christmas-y things, we don’t have to.”

“Jesus, Buck, not funny. Wren, your boyfriend is an asshole, I hope you know that.”

Bucky continued, “Why, Steve? What did you think I was suggesting? Did you have an idea of what we could do with Wren?”

“Let’s just focus on the mission. Wren, have you seen anything? I’ve got nothing up here.”

Bucky couldn’t help himself, “Wren’s a good girl, I’m sure she’s been ignoring us.”

They waited for a moment in silence, before Steve started to get worried, “…Wren? Wren, come in.”

At the continued silence over the comm, Steve and Bucky had already started running to get to her position. Bucky was already there when Steve got there, looking for any sign of what happened. There was nothing. No sign of a fight, no blood, no note. Whoever it was must have come in the back door, but when they went out that way, there was no sign of where anyone had taken her.

“There must be an underground entrance, connected basements or something,” Steve surmised.

“We don’t have that kind of time,” Bucky insisted. “Let’s just go in the front.”

“It’s a toss-up: either we take the time finding the way they took her now, and get closer to her, or we fight our way in, but that’ll take time too.”

“Not if we’re good at our jobs,” Bucky pointed out, and took off running to the front door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another "Bucky's such a little shit sometimes!" chapter! What do we thiiiiiiink? #validateme


	34. Chapter 34

When Wren woke up, she was surprised she wasn’t bound. She was laying on a couch in what looked like an office. Well…it wasn’t entirely true that she wasn’t bound. Her hands and her feet were free. But she was wearing some kind of muzzle. She felt at it, it was a lightweight, smooth metal, with a lock at the back. She didn’t think she could pick the lock, not quickly, and not with it at the back of her head. And it was incredibly tight, probably made for a child, but it just meant that she couldn’t even fit a finger under the straps, much less pull it off over her head. She tried vocalizing, she couldn’t open her mouth at all, and any sound she could hear was just what filtered through her own skull to her ears.

This muzzle device was new, they hadn’t had anything like this for her when she was 14, they must have developed it since then. They hadn’t taken her “jewelry”, but she suspected they wouldn’t work, as the muzzle extended down her neck, and felt like it went under the necklace that helped her project and shape her powers. She cursed herself for not paying more attention to Tony, so she didn’t know if her gadgets would still work without skin contact, and she couldn’t test it without someone to test it on.

She got up and looked around the room. Most of the stuff was leftover from when it was occupied by some sort of factory foreman. There was a computer at the desk that might belong to Marco or someone else with the trafficking ring, she flipped it open, not really expecting to find much. If they left her unmonitored and unbound, they wouldn’t be dumb enough to leave anything interesting where she could find it. When she confirmed that she would need a password or some hacking skills, she checked it for any sort of extra memory card. Nope. Well, worth a shot. She went to the door and, finding it unlocked, opened it.

She could see various armed guards around the perimeter of the room. And in the center stood Marco, surrounded by five children. They ranged in age from probably 4 to about 13, and she knew they were from all over the world. They didn’t have any sort of restraints on, from what she could tell, but she knew they had to be controlling the kids somehow.

“Thank you for joining us, Wren!” Marco crowed. “I’d ask you to say a few words, but…well…” he shrugged in a nonchalant, what-can-you-do fashion.

She took a couple steps towards him, but she felt the hands of the closet guards on her before she could get anywhere near him.

“Oh, let her go, boys. She won’t harm me, not with the children here. And not when she hears what I have to say. Now, see, I know this is when you would give a speech or sing a note and do what you think is the heroic thing, but right now is my turn to talk. I do apologize for that device we have on you; I assure you I will happily take it off shortly. But I anticipate your boyfriends will be kicking our door in any minute now, so I need to say my part first.

“Wren, you’ve been thinking about this all wrong. You remember what happened to you when you were younger, and it was terrible. _We_ are not that. We are _rescuing_ these children. We are making sure they are safe from those who would wish them harm. And we make sure they can be placed with a family who will both _protect_ them and _appreciate_ their gifts.”

Wren felt her head spinning, everything suddenly felt so blurry. _Rescuing_ the children? _Protect_ them? _Appreciate_ them? Did she get it all wrong? Was Marco not a bad guy after all? She just…she just needed a moment to think. Marco sounded so honest, like he genuinely cared.

“I know, it seems strange. But I assure you, you can trust me.” The children stepped aside without him asking, and he strode unhesitatingly over to her. “Wren…I’m your brother.”

That was…he couldn’t…was he?

“Well, half-brother. We share a mother. I know, it must come as a shock. I have all our paperwork, I can prove it to you. You just have to _trust me_. It’s the men you came with that are dangerous. They don’t want to help these kids, and they don’t want you to find out about who you are, or why you have your beautiful gift. They just want to control you. But I don’t. _You can trust me_.”

If she could just get her head clear she could think. Her brother? She’d given up a long time ago on finding her roots. And he made some good points: Why hadn’t Steve or Bucky try to find out about her family for her? _Were_ they trying to control her?

Why was her head so damn fuzzy? She didn’t feel this bad when she woke up.

One of the guards came over to Marco, whispering something in his ear. Marco nodded, then turned back to Wren, “Well, little sis, this reunion has been a real treat, but I’m afraid I need to go take care of something real quick. Since I know _you can trust me_ , I trust you, too. Protect the children at all costs. And then we can talk like a _family_.”

* * *

Steve and Buck had to split up. The place was too big, and they had no idea where Wren was or what these bastards were doing to her. So, Buck went left, Steve went right. It was just fighting guards, there was nothing special, other than that there was a warren of hallways around the main factory floor. Steve fought through, trying to mentally map out the place, in case he needed to backtrack. Finally, he made it to the back part of the building, and through a door with a small window, he saw a phalanx of guards. He must have the right place. He didn’t know what was on the other side of the guards though, but assumed it had to be Wren or the kids and he didn’t want to risk hurting them, so he kicked the door in and tossed in a flashbang at the front of the group to disorient them. The second it went off, he went in, taking out each of the dozen guards easily. A couple fired rounds at random, but none of them were well-trained. He wondered why so many untrained guards would be the last line of defense when he saw the real last line.

It was Wren.

She had some sort of mask on her face. She was unarmed, but stood in a fighting stance with a group of children behind her. Her eyes showed a mix of fear, determination, and confusion. And she didn’t show any sign of relaxing upon seeing Steve, or when he finished off the last guard. Instead, she advanced.

He quickly snapped the shield onto the harness on his back, and started to say “Hey, Wren, what’s going on? It’s me…” but she was throwing punches before he could finish. He had been training her for months now, he knew her weaknesses as a fighter, but she took him off-guard and landed some hits. He had to adjust quickly: he needed to subdue her, but she was out for the kill. He wanted to try to maneuver her around so he could pin her arms, but he realized she was protecting the kids behind her. Whatever happened here, she wouldn’t let him get near them, so she was doing everything she could to keep him in front of her. With this knowledge, he looked around the room, trying to see if there was something he could use to his advantage.

But when he looked back, he saw the kids collapse. Wren’s eyes suddenly went wide, and “Steve!” issued from her throat almost like a prayer, before she collapsed.

He darted forward and caught her before she could hit the ground. “Wren! Wren, talk to me!” he was gently stroking her face, before quickly saying into the comm, “Buck, I’ve got her, we’re in the south-east corner of the building.” He switched his focus back to her, trying to keep the fear out of his voice so he could sound reassuring, “Wren! Come on, baby, I’m right here, stay with me! Just wake up, Wren, let’s see those pretty eyes of yours…”

Her eyes fluttered open and immediately started darting around in a panic, hands scrabbling at the mask on her face. He tried to make calming noises and held her to his chest so he could look at the back. “I’m sorry, Wren, this is going to hurt,” he warned. He snapped the lock, and she gasped as it dug into her skin before going slack. She pulled it off her face and looked up at Steve.

She cradled his head in both hands, pulling him down until their foreheads touched, her eyes squeezed tight against the feelings rushing through her. “Thank you, Steve, thank you…”

When she opened her eyes and met his, Steve could see it. Buck was right: She still loved him. He squeezed her tightly and kissed her for all he was worth.

And she kissed him back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
> 
> Honestly, I'm updating today because I've had such a shit week and it's only Wednesday and I thought your love and comments would help lift my spirits. I hope y'all are doing well, and also WHAT THE SHIT, MARCO?


	35. Chapter 35

When Bucky finally found the right room, he strode in to see his girl in the arms of his best friend. They heard his footsteps, and Steve whipped around, gun already drawn, still holding Wren. He put it down and had the decency to look a little embarrassed when he saw who it actually was.

“Buck!” Wren gasped, trying to disentangle herself from Steve, “It’s not what it…”

“Doll, I’m not mad. We’ll talk about it later. Right now, and I can’t believe _I’m_ the one pointing this out, but: we’ve got more important things to deal with. Marco is dead.”

“What?! No!” Wren’s look of horror surprised both of them. Was she out for revenge that badly, she needed it for herself?

Steve got up and helped her to her feet, “Wren, I’m sure you wanted to take him out yourself, but the important thing is…”

“No, he just…the things he said before he left…I think he might be my brother.”

Bucky and Steve both just gaped back in shock for a moment, unsure what to say. Buck took a couple steps forward, reaching for her, “Wren, that can’t be…”

She shook both of them off, “He had powers, too. He was controlling me with his voice, telling me to trust him, and I couldn’t stop myself from doing what he said. It must’ve snapped when you killed him. That’s why I was fighting you, Steve. He told me to protect the children, and that you two were a threat.”

Steve shook his head, “Wren, you can’t believe anything he said.”

“I don’t…well, I don’t believe most of it. He tried to tell me this whole thing was just some sort of super-powered adoption agency, which I know was horseshit. But if he has voice powers…don’t you think that would be an awfully huge coincidence?” She put her hand over her mouth while she thought, then her eyebrows raised as she continued, “I mean…fuck. I’ve never been able to find anything about my family. He’s older than me, he would have had plenty of time to hide things, destroy records, keep things for himself before I ever started looking. And now he’s dead.” Her face fell, and she turned away from them.

Bucky moved to her side, “I’m so sorry, doll. If I’d’ve known…”

She cut him off, “No, it was the right thing. We couldn’t have risked letting him get away. It just…”

“I’m still sorry.”

“So am I.”

Steve took charge, “Alright, we have three priorities: Making sure we neutralize all the guards, getting these kids to safety, and gathering any computers or other data. We need to make sure this is it, that they don’t have any other sites. And to see if there’s any evidence of a connection between you and Marco.”

Wren nodded, “Let’s get the guards in here tied up first, then you two do a sweep. I’ll stay with the kids until you give the all-clear.”

Steve stepped to Wren, looking concerned, “Are you sure you’re okay? If you need a minute…”

“I’ll be okay. Let’s get this over with.”

* * *

They’d cleaned things out at the old factory, and Steve contacted Coulson about the kids with powers. Between Moscow, the kids they found here, and any information they got from the computers they found, it was clear it was more SHIELD’s job than the Avengers’. Besides, Coulson had a hacker on his team that would be able to access the computers easily, and do a better job doing any digging.

“And Coulson?” Steve’s voice dropped as he explained, “Be careful with this. The ringleader, Marco, said he was related to Wren. I don’t know if he kept any proof or anything, but if there are any files about it, have your hacker send that directly to Wren, and not look at it. It’s been upsetting enough for her. We can pass anything back to you if it’s relevant to the search. Thanks.”

He hung up and sighed. Wren had gone with the kids to make sure they made it to whatever consulates they needed to go to, or at least long enough she was confident the local authorities would be able to handle it. Steve and Buck had gone back to the safehouse, trying to pack everything up and wait on Wren. When she finally made it back, she looked like she had that combination of exhaustion and prolonged panic that Steve recognized immediately. He wrapped her in a hug before Bucky even made it to her, and she burst into tears.

Sweeping her up in his arms, he carried her over to the couch, setting her down gently and sitting, turning to face her. Bucky took up his position on her other side, and they just waited while she cried.

Finally, she got a couple deep breaths and sniffled, “I’m sorry, this is just all so much…”

“It’s okay,” Steve assured her, “Take all the time you need.”

“Do you want to talk?” offered Bucky.

She nodded, and tried to steady herself. “One thing at a time. Marco…I don’t know what to do with it all. I can’t get it out of my head. His power is so similar to mine, it seems plausible we could be related. But what does _that_ mean?”

Steve tried to comfort her with information: “Now that we have his computer, SHIELD is already working on cracking it open, and they’ll send anything related to you or his background or your possible relation, they won’t even look at it unless you want them to. And when we get home, I’ll help you get some answers. We’ll do whatever it takes, Wren. I’m sorry we didn’t look into it sooner.”

She’d nodded along, reassured by what he said. “It’s not your fault you didn’t look deeper, I hadn’t even thought to pick it back up in years, not even when I saw the resources you had at the compound. So: thank you, I really appreciate everything, Steve. I’m still worried about the kids and any other kids out there that are in danger or in hiding. Fuck, adults for that matter, too.”

“Coulson and SHIELD are on it, Wren. If you want to help them, or liaise with their team, I’ll support you however you need,” Steve gave her hand a squeeze.

She looked at their hands for a second, before suddenly pulling back, almost like he’d hurt her. She turned to Bucky, fresh tears in her eyes, “Oh, Buck, I’m so sorry! That kiss back there, I didn’t mean…”

“Nah, doll, don’t even worry about it.”

“How can you be so nonchalant about it? I kissed another man! Steve is my ex and my boss and _your best friend_! Why aren’t you pissed about this?”

“Well, this was something I hadn’t planned on talking to you about until we got home…”

“What? Please, Buck, if you’re gonna yell, just do it, I can’t handle just waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

“What? No, I wasn’t gonna yell at you, Wren! Jesus!” he kind of bleated it out, then calmed himself before continuing in more soothing tones, “Wren, I love you. Seeing you kiss Steve didn’t do anything to change that. Did it do anything to change how you feel about me?”

“No! I love you, Buck, I just…”

“…you still love Steve, too.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement.

“What? I don’t…it’s just…” her cheeks felt like they were on fire, she was sorely tempted to sing a sleep note and just run away. But she couldn’t do that to them.

Bucky held her face, bringing their foreheads together, “Wren, shhh, it’s okay. I’ve known since we started that you were still hung up on Steve. I accepted that, and thought maybe you’d just change your mind, with time. But then I saw that…you didn’t need to. We fell in love, and it wasn’t because you had pushed Steve out. Your heart’s so big, Wren, there’s plenty of room in there for both of us.”

“I don’t…I don’t understand, Buck. What are you saying?”

“I’m mucking this up, I don’t have all the right words for this. It wasn’t exactly a common setup in the 40’s. What I’m saying is: I love you, and want you to still love me, but it’s okay if you still love Steve, too. You can be with both of us, if that’s something you’d want.”

She plainly gaped at him for a second, “Is this…are you messing with me?”

“I wouldn’t do that, Wren.”

“You’d really be okay with it? I mean…you’re not jealous or anything?”

“Nah. I wasn’t even jealous when he was dating you and I was just an idiot in love, as long as he kept making you happy. And for this past month, you’ve spent every day with him, bonding in ways I can’t even understand. You need Steve. He needs you, he _obviously_ never stopped loving you, either. I can’t come between that. And he doesn’t need to come between what we have. It doesn’t have to be a choice, Wren. All three of us can be happy.”

She felt like she’d never pick her jaw up off the floor. Bucky was suggesting…a poly situation? Really? A super soldier from the 40s saw that _his woman_ was in love with another man, and _this_ is his solution? She turned to Steve, “And what do you think about all this?”

He gave her that little smile of his, that self-effacing little smirk that she could tell must have been that small, pre-serum version of himself shining through. “You know I never stopped loving you, Wren. I’d share you with a different guy for every day of the week if it meant I still got some piece of your time.”

Wren shifted, staring at the floor in front of her. It felt like the whole world was spinning around her, like everything was this roiling mass of chaos as far as the eye could see. But, in the eye of the storm, bringing a sense of calm around her, she realized: both Bucky and Steve were there with her. After she had gotten together with Bucky, having Steve there the whole time finally, _truly_ recognizing her, that had been when she had felt the safest. She felt respected, she felt loved, she felt like she could do anything. When she put her mind together with Steve, she could tackle any problem, and Bucky helped give her the strength and confidence to actually do it. What could she do if she allowed herself to fully love both of them?

Still not trusting herself to look anywhere but the floor in front of her, she grabbed both their hands and squeezed. They could feel a little tremor in her grip, and then she nodded.

“So,” she ventured. “How would… _this_ work?”

Steve immediately responded, “However you want it to, Wren. We want you to feel comfortable and safe.”

“Yeah, but…it’s not all about me. It would be too easy to be selfish, or hurt one or both of you.”

Bucky chuckled, “Baby doll, I don’t think it would be as easy as you think for you to be selfish.”

She snorted at that, “I just…what if I can’t do it? What if I can’t be enough for both of you?”

Bucky stroked her cheek, “Sweetheart, none of us know what we’re doing here. We just want to try. We’ll do what feels right, and we’ll see how that works.”

“But, are there any rules? Is there a schedule or something? I mean, we all live together. Is this…this isn’t just a sex thing, right?”

It was Steve’s turn to reply, “No, it’s definitely not just a sex thing. But each of us has watched you kiss the other, and neither of us died of jealousy or anything. I don’t think we need to set up a schedule or anything.”

“And I don’t mind Stevie seeing you and me together. Or watching you and him. It sounds kinda hot, if I’m being honest,” Bucky gave her that killer grin of his.

Her jaw hit the floor. She looked at Bucky, then at Steve, who shrugged and smirked in agreement. “Okay…wait.” She put her hands out like she was trying to physically pause the conversation, “Are you saying you want a _threesome_?”

Bucky shrugged, “Yeah, if you’re comfortable with it. If you’re not, we’ll take it right off the table.”

She looked back and forth between them like she was watching a ping-pong match, before collapsing back into the couch with her hands over her face.

Steve tried to soothe her, “Babe, if this is too far…”

“No, just give me a minute. Today, I was captured, mind-controlled, found out I might have a brother, found out he was killed, and helped take down a trafficking ring, all before my centenarian super-soldier _boyfriend_ asked if I wanted to open up our relationship into a throuple with my centenarian super-soldier _ex_ , who is also my boss. The threesome isn’t too far in an absolute sense, it just might be…a bit much for today.”

Bucky’s bark of laughter rang through the apartment, and she could feel Steve’s shoulder shaking against her. Bucky smiled as he said, “Fair enough, doll. And, speaking of a long day, we should get going here. I’ll finish up the packing, you two take a moment.”

Wren just sat there for a moment, not really sure what to do with herself. She’d spent so long now trying to tamp down and deny anything she felt about Steve beyond professional respect. It had never worked, she still always felt the reflexive need to reach to him. His protectiveness had gone too far before their breakup, but still: she always felt so safe with him, it felt so natural to want him to hold her when something was wrong.

She turned to look at him, and seeing his earnest face with all his emotions writ plain across it made her heart swell. Love, nerves, excitement, fear. She reached for him, pulling his face down and just holding his forehead to hers. They both closed their eyes and just let the moment wash over them. She opened her eyes, running her thumb over his cheek. He pressed her hand close, eyes opening to look at her.

She finally said, “I love you, Steve. And I’m so sorry about everything.”

“Don’t apologize, Wren. Just maybe…say the first part again.”

She smiled, even as a tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you, Steve.”

Their lips crashed together, inelegantly, just needing each other. He pulled her into his lap and they just held each other. There would be plenty of time later to tear each other’s clothes off, right now they needed a different kind of comfort.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> IT'S HAPPENING! 
> 
> Also, y'all...NEXT WEEK. It's gonna be goooooooood.


	36. Chapter 36

They got back to the compound late at night, all exhausted. When they made their way up to the hall with their rooms, there was a pause.

“First awkward moment of throuplehood: who goes to bed with whom?” Wren quipped. “Look…I’m wrung out. I don’t think I’m up for _any_ form of super soldier sex tonight. I’m gonna go to bed, you are both welcome to join me. Or not, and we can re-negotiate tomorrow. No hurt feelings.” And with that, she walked down the hall. There was a bit of a delay, she imagined looks were exchanged, but in short order she heard two sets of footsteps following her.

She dropped her bag on the couch and started stripping her gross tac-gear off her body, letting it fall wherever it dropped. She knew it would bug Steve, but even that thought made her smile. She went to her drawers, pulling out a clean pair of panties and a t-shirt. She swapped out her undies, and started to pull the tee over her head, but a pair of big hands grabbed her wrist and stopped her, holding her arms above her.

“Steve, I’m not up for sex tonight…”

“I know, I’m not doing this so we can have sex. I just need to feel you, I missed the shit out of you. _No shirt_.” Despite his acknowledgement that they weren’t going to have sex, the way he growled that last bit, like a command…her eyes flicked over her shoulder at him. He sensed her response, “Bucky let me in on some…pieces of advice. Get on the bed.” He gave her a quick, sharp slap on the ass and dropped her hands.

She gave him an appraising look, followed by a “Yes, sir!” and then followed orders, making a bit of a show of bending to pull the covers down, and then crawling to the middle of the bed. The men joined her on either side, and before she could even decide which way to face, she felt Steve’s hands on her, rearranging her so she was the little spoon, with her back against his front.

Bucky lay facing her, smiling at her. He tucked some of her hair behind her ear and kissed her. He was tempted to slide his hand down her, into her panties: more than anything else, he wanted to know how wet she was right in this moment. He didn’t, she’d been clear she wasn’t up for it tonight. He did ask, as quietly as possible, “How wet are you right now, Wren?”

“Why do you think I changed my panties?” she returned, kissing him on the tip of his nose, and closing her eyes before tucking her head under his chin. He and Steve exchanged a look over her head: this was going to be a _hell_ of an adventure.

* * *

When she woke up, their positions were shifted: she was spooned against Steve’s back, with Bucky spooned against hers. She wondered briefly if anyone would even be able to see her in the bed if they came in right now, with all the muscles and broad shoulders surrounding her, it might just look like a trick photo with two dudes and 6 legs. She tried to extract herself, but Bucky’s metal arm constricted around her waist. She whispered, “Buck, I gotta pee, leggo!” and he grumbled, but loosened his grip.

She took care of business, and decided to brush her teeth, as she’d neglected that last night. When she looked at herself while brushing her teeth, she grossed herself out a little. With all of the events that had occurred in the last 24 hours, she decided she deserved a shower, and it would give her time to think about what was next.

Obviously she’d slept with each of the men who were now in her bed. But just on a one-on-one basis. And Steve hadn’t…well, she hadn’t really explored some of the outer boundaries of what sex could be with Steve. They’d brought her vibrator into things, and had talked about the possibility of anal, but hadn’t actually tried it. Some silly part of her felt guilty trying to get even the littlest bit kinky with her boy scout, and he’d seemed afraid of pushing her. And, now that she thought of it, it was probably part of his wanting to protect her. Buck had no compunction tossing her around the room, being a little rough, dominating her. He was absolutely respectful about it, they talked about her limits and he never pushed them or balked. And Steve seemed interested in giving that a try. Could she handle both of them at the same time? They were both _big_ men, both muscle-wise and in what they were packing in their pants. She had impressive strength and endurance, particularly by the standards of a normal woman her size, but _two_ super-soldiers?

But, trying to imagine the specifics…wow. The idea of just losing control, letting these two gorgeous men worship her body, even just the thought of it had her hands drifting over her body. Picturing their hands and mouths all over her…

The moment her fingers dipped between her legs, the shower curtain whipped open. She yelped in surprise: fucking super-soldiers and their hearing and their sneakiness and their goddamn _timing_. There stood Bucky and Steve, clad only in their boxers and their grins.

Bucky smirked, “Doll, what do you think you’re doing?”

“Jesus, you scared me! I was just…”

Steve asked, “What were you thinking about?”

Bucky stepped up to turn the shower off, as she stammered, “I just…it was…”

Steve used his Captain voice, “Answer the question!”

“You!” she squeaked, blushing as she clarified, “Both of you.”

“That’s our girl!” Bucky grinned, wrapping her in a towel and lifting her out of the shower. “Are you ready for this?” She silently nodded, so he added “You know I need to hear you say it, doll.”

“Yes,” she sighed, as they toweled her off.

“Any new rules?” Bucky checked with her. “I caught Steve up on the limits you’ve given me. Anything to add, now that you’re outnumbered?” the cheeky grin he gave at that made her simultaneously feel weaker and stronger. God _damn_ , these men!

“Nothing new. But if I change my mind…”

Steve took it up, “The traffic lights, Buck explained.” He took a step, moving right into her space, and stroked a finger up the side of her neck as he commanded, “Now dry off, then meet us at the bed. _That’s an order_.”

She felt a shiver go through her body, it had nothing to do with the air temperature or her wet skin. She toweled off as quickly and thoroughly as she could manage, and looked at herself in the mirror. No makeup, no perfume, not a stitch of clothing, hair a wet mess. And she had two super soldiers ready to make her dreams come through in the other room. Life was _wild_.

She came out of the bathroom, and almost laughed. The two huge men looming, wearing expressions that, in another context, would look menacing. Yet, the morning sun was shining through the windows, it wasn’t full of darkness and candlelight and secrets. It was bright, but that made it feel more vulnerable, and more surreal.

“On the bed,” Steve had really fallen naturally in using his command voice in the bedroom, and it shot straight to her core.

She sat on the edge, heart pounding out of her chest, keeping her eyes averted, not really sure where to look. Bucky came up beside her, producing a length of silk that he placed over her eyes, and tied it behind her head. She felt him take first one hand, then the other, and placed padded cuffs around them. Buck had acquainted her with them before, and from his chuckle she knew he’d seen the goosebumps erupt along the skin of her arms. She felt herself being scooped up and laid carefully in the middle of the bed. Her hands were lifted above her, and she heard the click of the clasps closing, securing her to the headboard.

Buck purred into her ear, “You’ve been such a good girl lately, today is all about you. You will come at least three times for each time one of us comes.”

She giggled nervously, “What? I don’t know if I can…”

“Are you trying to disobey an order?” Steve’s voice sounded in her other ear, and she jumped. She hadn’t heard or felt him move, and yet there he was.

“No, Sir!”

“Good girl,” Bucky rumbled. “Now save your voice. I think you’ll need it.”

Then there was stillness.

She couldn’t feel them, couldn’t hear them. She started to writhe, clenching her thighs together in anticipation, wanting to feel some kind of friction to ease the tension building in her.

Then she felt it: the cold metal of the tip of one of Bucky’s fingers on her nipple. Even at that so small a contact, her back arched into it, trying to claim more of his touch. Of course, he anticipated this, and moved accordingly, so she felt exactly the same pressure no matter how she squirmed. The moment she settled, trying not to pout too badly, she felt a sensation mirrored on the other nipple: similar, but entirely different: Steve’s tongue! Hot and wet, in contrast with Bucky’s finger, but still just the tip, and that same constant pressure no matter what she did.

She finally settled back, giving in to their whims with a little whine. They took that as a signal, and in a breath she went from deprived yearning to overwhelmed with sensation: they fell on her, and suddenly she could feel everything. Bucky grabbed her tit, tugging at her nipple, and pulled her hair, forcing her head back and exposing her neck to the ministrations of his lips and tongue. Steve’s mouth was busy at her nipple, rolling it delicately between his teeth, while a hand moved down her side, to her hip. She thrust at it, hoping to encourage its journey, but the hand moved past, down her thigh, before reversing direction as he dug his short nails in a little to run them back up.

She was whimpering, whining, cooing, cajoling, anything to get them to touch her more, and never stop. She couldn’t use her hands to get them to do what she wanted, so she was stuck with her words, begging in an almost nonsensical stream. When she thought she’d finally gained some ground, that Steve would succumb and slide a finger into her instead of making another pass raking at her thigh, his hand moved up her stomach again. She almost wanted to cry, but before she could, she felt Steve brusquely move her face to his and kiss her, at the same time as she felt two metal fingers slip between her folds.

Bucky’s dexterity and mechanical precision had his fingers pistoning over her g-spot, and when Steve’s fingers moved to her clit, her internal world exploded, she could see lights dancing across the backs of her eyelids as she tried to scream into Steve’s mouth. As her orgasm tore her apart, a brief fear that she could pass out from coming too hard flashed through her mind, swiftly replaced as the last ripples washed over her.

She slumped into the bed, chest heaving. They whispered words of praise and endearment into her ears, only about half of which she understood. Steve pulled the blindfold off her with a “Oh, god, Wren, that was beautiful.”

Now that she seemed to have some of her wits about her, Bucky simply growled “One.” He unclipped her from the headboard, removing the cuffs and lifting her shoulders up. Steve held a water bottle to her lips, and she drank thirstily. God, the way he looked at her, such pure loving adoration…she’d missed it terribly.

Bucky had sunk in behind her, sitting with his back against the headboard. She had a moment where she wasn’t sure what to do next, but Bucky just grabbed her, settling her between his legs with her back against his chest. She relaxed against him, boneless, giving in. She didn’t know what was going to happen next, but she trusted them. She felt the stubble of Bucky’s chin and then his soft lips at her shoulder, her neck, and she moved her hand up into his hair to hold him close. Looking up, she saw Steve kneeling with one hand resting on her leg, the other idly stroking his cock. In the morning light, he was like a flawless Adonis, he absolutely took her breath away. She smiled at him, but he wasn’t looking at her face. He repositioned himself, lowering his torso between her legs. She moaned before he even really touched her, overwhelmed already.

Each little kiss along her thigh felt like it pulled a string that went through her whole body, until it was wound so tight she started to shake a little. She plunged her fingers into his hair; feeling him in one hand and Buck in the other was almost enough to make her come on the spot.

Her eyes squeezed shut against the tidal wave of sensation. Bucky’s hand moved to her jaw, directing her face and lowering his lips to her ear, “Open those pretty eyes, doll. You’re gonna wanna see this.”

She did, just in time to see Steve’s mouth descend on her pussy. This was one of Steve Roger’s true superpowers: with all his natural empathy, devotion, sensitivity, and generosity, the women from the pre-serum days had really missed an opportunity, because he was _truly_ spectacular at oral. Of course, post-serum, it meant he could deliver for days without tiring. And he remembered every little trick that drove her wild: that just breathing right on the sensitive spot at the very top of her thigh could make her squirm, that the slower he went at the beginning the wilder she got, where exactly to use what part of his mouth or fingers to best effect. And he managed it in a perfectly dynamic way, she never even had to direct him, he knew what she wanted.

She could feel herself starting to plateau; not because of anything Steve was or wasn’t doing, she just hadn’t fully recovered from the last orgasm. She let out a little frustrated whimper, and Bucky took that as his cue: he yanked at her arms one at a time, pulling them behind her back and pinning them there. One hand held hers in place while the other roamed over her front, squeezing and pulling at her aggressively, almost painfully, but not quite. In her ear, he started demanding that she come, and come _hard_.

She couldn’t do anything but comply.

She was sure she was going to pass out. Bucky had said she was supposed to have 3 orgasms for every one of theirs? And, as Bucky took that moment to so helpfully reminded her, she was only at two. This was going to kill her, and she was going to die with the biggest smile on her face.

They both took such good care of her. Bucky made sure she got plenty of water, Steve cleaned up the mess she’d made so far. They both murmured little words of praise the whole time, pressing little loving kisses into her skin. After Steve and Buck had settled on either side of her, she twined her fingers in theirs. She brought each hand to her lips, and then asked, “So…what’s next?”

They both laughed. Bucky replied, “Well, doll, you up for more? You seem pretty tired; we can be patient.”

She kissed Bucky slowly, “You have both been so good to me, and so patient already…”

Steve insisted, “Wren, you don’t have to…”

“I want to,” she promised. She got up and whispered something in Bucky’s ear, before turning to Steve and kissing him deeply, then continuing down his body. All he could do was smile and watch as she played with his cock, his balls, then grin even harder at the cheeky look she shot at him as she took his head into her mouth. He groaned, god he’d missed her.

She’d never felt quite adequate at oral, especially compared to her boy scout, but Steve always assured her she was fantastic. He was just so big, and her gag reflex…well, she’d seen porn, she knew she’d never live up. So he nearly choked on his surprised when suddenly she took him all the way back in her throat. When his senses came back enough to try to figure out what was going on, the answer was simple: Bucky was behind her, looking blissed-out after having plunged all the way into her.

She gagged a little, and backed off him. Steve managed to ask, “You okay, baby?” and she smiled and nodded before getting enthusiastically back to work. She moaned around his cock, gripping him hard, and soon Steve had to warn her that if she didn’t stop, he wouldn’t last. Buck took that as a sign, pulling her back with a hand in her hair, and slamming into her, she barely got out a whimper before she was crying out, and they fell apart together.

Steve sat up, leaning against the headboard. He figured she’d need another rest, and he didn’t object to a moment to come back down a little. When she cozied up under his arm, he assumed she’d take a break right there, and gave her shoulders an affectionate squeeze. He jumped when he felt her hand at his cock, rolling a condom on. He looked down at her, surprised, “You sure, babe?”

In answer, she threw her leg over him, straddling his hips, and kissing him while she positioned herself. She cradled his face, staying forehead-to-forehead as she lowered herself, taking the opportunity to go slow, savor it. She sighed when she hit bottom, and he’d never felt so at home. She just waited there for a moment, and when she pressed her eyes shut, he saw a single tear roll down her cheek, past her brilliant smile, and he didn’t have to ask. He just held her tight and whispered “I love you…I love you…” over and over again between pressing kisses against every part of skin he could reach, and she did the same.

He laid her down, keeping her trapped in his arms, as he moved in her. Her professions of love turned into pleading, “Steve, please…please…”

He grabbed her hand that had fallen back on the mattress, twining their fingers together while his other hand wrapped itself into her hair. “Come for me, Wren. One more time, that’s it, baby.” He watched as her eyes rolled back into her head and she craned her neck, felt every part of her tighten around her, and he let the waves of his own climax wash over him.

She felt herself being lifted, and the laid down again, and the covers being pulled up to her chin. She felt someone moving behind her, and just before she drifted off, she heard Bucky’s voice: “That was only four.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!
> 
> What do you thiiiiink? Lurkers who don't normally comment, I wanna hear from you, too! This week is enormously stressful for me, and I need all the validation I can get today, so if you've been enjoying the story or if you just thought today's chapter was hot, lemme know pleeeeease!


	37. Chapter 37

When January rolled around, everyone had filtered back to the compound. The trio had to tone down their PDAs: they were still affectionate, but couldn’t exactly roam the compound in their underwear, making out all over the place. Not if they didn’t want to constantly get pitched shit for it. And not everyone understood the arrangement. Nat was proud of Wren, Wanda was a little baffled by it but supportive. Scott seemed to be keeping his distance. He wasn’t exactly disapproving, per se, he just didn’t really know what to make of it. The rest of the guys on the team had varying levels of disbelief, mostly that Steve would go for an arrangement like that. But they had always thought of him as being fresh out of the ice, never really understood how far he’d come from the All-American goodie-goodie that was stuck in the 40s. No one was loudly objecting, though, which was a huge relief to Wren, and if anyone thought less of them for it, she hadn’t heard anything about it.

Wren got to work on finding out Marco’s history, and to see if anything he’d said was true. There were two scanned birth certificates they found on his hard drive: one for a baby girl that could have been her, another for a boy named “Mark”, but she had no way of knowing if it was really Marco. The mother’s name was listed as the same on both, no father indicated on either. It felt so strange, seeing it there in black and white: Melissa Joan Gold. Huh. The last name was the same, although that didn’t necessarily mean anything, it could just be a coincidence. The baby girl’s name was illegible in this scan, but that too might not have meant anything on its own. It was a starting place, however.

She tried to get more information about Melissa Gold, but she couldn’t find much that was digitized. The birth record was for Nolan County, Texas, it was hardly a major city. There was no obituary she could find, and death records were only available on microfiche. She reached out to the records office, and all she got was a recording that said records had to be requested in-person. Ridiculous and annoying, but there wasn’t really anything to be done about it: she’d have to go to Texas. Steve and Bucky both wanted to go with her. Not because she couldn’t handle it, just because they wanted to support her.

“C’mon, doll! Wouldn’t it be more fun with us there?” Buck cajoled

She sighed, “Of course it would be! But I know there are better things for you both of you to be doing right now. This will be so quick, and I’ll be back in your arms. I promise.”

“Back in our beds, more importantly,” he tried to paw at her, but she playfully danced out of his reach.

But Steve caught her and reeled her into a tight embrace, “Babe, you shouldn’t be alone out there.”

“This isn’t something you can solve with your fists, or with strategizing. It’s just going to take patience with bureaucracy.”

“I know, and I wasn’t saying we need to solve it for you. But we can wait in line with you. Maybe fill out a few forms?” Steve offered.

Bucky added, “And this is going to be stressful. We just want to be there for you.”

“You can be there for me from here. I will be done so fast, you’ll hardly notice I’m…”

“Oh, we’ll definitely miss this,” Bucky had snuck up behind her to pinch her butt.

She smiled as she swatted him away, “Well, you better start planning my send-off now. I was planning to leave tomorrow morning, as soon as I can make arrangements.”

Bucky sidled in behind her, nuzzling her neck, “I think we’ve already got a send-off covered, doll.”

She cupped both their cheeks, and gave them each a kiss. “Well that’s all the support I need! Now let me go, because the sooner I get my travel booked, the more time we can spend in bed.”

They both immediately lifted their hands off her in surrender and let her go.

* * *

She had to laugh when she found three invitations taped to her door when she returned from the office. After dinner, her presence was requested in Steve’s room, and the dress code was listed at “The one with the dots.” Oh, Steve. Detail-oriented as he may have been, women’s clothing was not his forte. But she knew the dress he was talking about. The next invite was just a time and the words “NO PANTIES” so she had a pretty strong suspicion that was from Bucky. The final one looked like it had contributions from both of them, about when they were all to meet back in her room for cuddles. It didn’t specify if there would be any sleep after that, but that was why she planned to fly commercial: if she didn’t sleep tonight, she could make up for it on her flight if she wasn’t flying the plane.

She had dinner with the two of them, they ordered a pizza a bit earlier than they normally would eat dinner. She wasn’t sure if this was so she could have time to get ready, get herself all pretty, or if it was so she would have time to digest before having her world repeatedly rocked, but she just took it as thoughtful either way.

She took extra time to get done-up for Steve. The dress he requested was very 40s in style, one she’d bought when she got to the compound, before he’d asked her out (she had no problem admitting now that it had been a strategic purchase). When they started dating he’d praised it, of course, but he hadn’t seemed to respond to it any more than most of the other dresses she wore: he was just so excited to be with her, she could’ve worn anything in that phase, it would have been a turn on. But it must have made an impression on him. So she went all-out: thigh-high stockings with a backseam, matching garter belt and lingerie, bright red lipstick, and she even tried to do her hair up in victory rolls, although she wasn’t sure she was entirely successful. It looked cute, regardless of whether she got points for authenticity.

She knocked on his door right on time. When he opened it, there was the briefest moment where he looked like he might cry. He ushered her in, and choked out a “you look beautiful.”

“Oh, sweetheart, what’s up?” Wren asked. She wrapped her arms around his waist, rested her chin on his chest so she could look up at him.

“I just…I feel like an idiot for all the time I didn’t treat you like I should have. Waiting to ask you out, not treating you like you deserved, not talking to you.”

“Pick me up.”

He blinked. “What?”

“I want to be on your level for this conversation, so pick me up,” she insisted. He grinned at her, then easily lifted her so she was at his eye level. When she’d settled with her legs wrapped around him, and his face cupped in both of her hands, she continued, “Steve, the only thing that makes you an idiot is if you waste this time we have together now. We both made mistakes in the past. We’ve learned from them. You’ve been all I could hope for from a friend and a partner. And now we know if either of us does anything out-of-character, we’ll make damn sure it _actually_ happened before we get upset. The only thing that can drive us apart now is if we don’t trust ourselves. So shut up and let me love you.”

He kissed her and held her there for a moment. “Okay. I’ll try. But…”

“Steve, I’m telling you, stop over thinking it.”

“No, just…can I touch your hair? Because it looks pretty and I don’t want to mess it up.”

“Well, that’s a shame, because I was kind of hoping you would mess it up…”

He turned to take her to the bed, “Yes ma’am!”

In the end, she had to beg. He would have used the entire time on his oral devotional if he had his way. And it would have been easy to let him, but that wasn’t what Wren wanted. She needed to wrap herself around him in every way possible, feel him inside her and encompassing her at the same time. She just needed him to be right there with her right now. She wasn’t worried about leaving, she just had to make sure he could feel they were together before she left.

And he loved her for it.

When she got to Bucky’s room, freshened up and in a very small sundress she knew he liked (and nothing underneath), no one answered when she knocked. She opened the door, and it was pitch black in the room. “Buck?” she called into the darkness but got no response. She knew she could use her echolocation to figure out where he was, but that wasn’t really the goal of the game, not for her anyway.

She started to call his name again, but only managed a “Bu-” before she was lifted off the ground, the door slamming shut from the force of her back against it. And Bucky was inside her. No preamble, no dirty talk, no foreplay, he just pinned her to the door with his cock. She screamed, her body gripping him automatically, accommodating him instantly. She was already soaking wet and ready for him, he didn’t need to go slow. She’d changed into a simple wrap dress that he tore open to get immediate access to every inch of her skin possible. He drilled her hard and fast as she was reduced to a jibbering mess, begging and praising and even admonishing him, anything to get him to never, ever stop.

After their climax, despite being thoroughly, if temporarily, drained, he carried her over to his bed. He set her down gently, whispering sweet nothings to her the whole way in a purring tone. He cleaned her up, and then just held her.

When she seemed to have her wits back about her, he whispered, “I’m worried about you, Wren.”

She kissed the chest her face was pressed against, and said, “I know I can’t get you to stop worrying, but I wish you wouldn’t. What can I do to make it easier on you?”

“Come back? And then never leave my side again?”

“Well, I will definitely come back. But you know nothing can truly keep us apart, right?”

“That’s not true.”

“Well, things can _try_. Marco _tried_ to keep us apart, twice! And look at how well that worked out for him. Really, the person who was most successful at keeping us apart was _you_. And frankly, you were kind of shit at it.”

“I was, wasn’t I?” he grinned, even if she couldn’t see it.

“So what makes you think anything short of death could keep me from you?”

“I’m pretty sure you’d kick death’s ass for trying.”

“I’d kick your ass for dying, too. You can’t get away from me that easily.”

He was quiet for a moment, before adding, “I just love you so much, Wren. I know I can have a funny way of showing it, but I just don’t want you to feel an ounce of pain. And I know I can’t punch my way to answers about your family, but…”

“I know, Buck. I love you, too. And I love that you’re not being a bullheaded idiot about all of this.”

“Well, I am, I’m just not doing it where you can see it.”

“Oh, well, as long as you bury those feelings deep down, that’s a super healthy response.”

He chuckled, “Well, I just bury them until therapy.”

“What must that poor counselor think of us?”

“That we make each other enormously happy. And probably that we need a vacation.”

“She’s the one who probably needs a proper vacation from us.”

“True. So…want to bury the rest of our feelings in some chocolate?”

“Goddamn, I love you Barnes!”

Bucky had planned ahead and had some chocolate cake from her favorite bakery ready for her, and they ate in bed. He sat against the headboard while she settled herself between his legs, so she could lay with her back against his chest. They talked, and joked, and tried to keep their mind of the weightier things that were threatening from the perimeter of their minds.

This was going to be what she missed most about Buck, just being held. Not that she wouldn’t miss the sex, but she would survive a few days of not getting laid. She wasn’t so sure how she’d handle not being held. She couldn’t tell either of her boys that, though, not without upsetting them, and she knew they’d move heaven and earth to be there with her. The whole thing made her feel a little embarrassed, really. She was only going to be gone a couple of days, she wasn’t at risk of anything more than a paper cut. But things had been so emotionally intense…she couldn’t let herself think about it. She was probably going to get all the way out to Texas and come home empty-handed anyway.

When it was time for the final invitation, she put her dress back on and they went across the hall. Steve had lit some candles and tidied up her room a little, because of _course_ he did. And she just got to…enjoy them. They weren’t pressuring her or demanding anything from her, this wasn’t a time for them to dominate. They just made sure she knew every inch of her was adored.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a little fluffy smut to tide you over! I finally broke out of my writer's block and have a couple more good chapters, and I think I know where I'm going with all of it, so hang in there! And comments/kudos are my love language, so you know what to do!


	38. Chapter 38

Stretching, she peeled herself off the seat of the rental car. Between the hours of flying and the hours of driving, she felt that specific combination of exhausted and restless you can only get from a long day’s travel. She got checked in to the small bed and breakfast, moved her bags to her room, and freshened up a little. It was too late to accomplish anything today, the records office was closed by the time she’d gotten into town.

So she decided to stretch her legs, find some dinner, maybe a beer or two, before calling it an early night. She had called her boys during the drive so they could keep her company for the long car ride, so on the walk, she just looked around. It seemed like a very normal small town. She decided to walk towards the courthouse and the older town center, there was a shopping center in the opposite direction, but she felt she was more likely to find some good tacos or barbecue away from the chain restaurants.

She couldn’t help but feel like she was being watched. No one was following her, she made sure of that. Maybe it was just because she was a new person in a small town. And she didn’t _look_ particularly local, either, which couldn’t be helping her cause. She’d lived many places, but if she’d spent any significant time in Texas, it was when she was too young to remember. She hadn’t really known what to pack to look local, but she’d probably guessed wrong. As she walked, she wondered if this really was where she was from. It didn’t feel familiar, but for all that she had a super power that worked like magic, she didn’t really believe in things like fates. It was still a little disappointing that there wasn’t some sort of…resonance.

A small taco joint was open, and she popped in and ate her fill. Then she walked around the block the courthouse was on and saw a small bar. There was live music drifting out when the door opened, and it didn’t seem like a dangerous spot, so she went in. Relieved there wasn’t a record-scratch moment where everything came to a stop while everyone stared at the interloper, she made her way to the bar, trying to ignore the eyes that were on her. At least now she didn’t have to worry about feeling like someone was watching her: multiple someones were.

One of the bartenders was waiting to take her order before she reached the bar. He flirted with her as he gave his local beer recommendations, she opened a tab and then took a seat in an easy chair with no one near it. The bar had books everywhere, and she looked over the spines she could see from where she sat, letting the music wash over her as she drank, ignoring the attention she was drawing. She was starting to wonder if she should have skipped starting a tab. If she was drawing this much attention by sitting, she shouldn’t really stick around.

When a man plopped down in a chair next to hers, she was ready to dismiss him out of hand, but was a little surprised when she turned and looked at him. There was something very familiar about him, even if that wasn’t possible. He was a big guy, tall and broad through the shoulders. No beard, hair was a very light brown, maybe a dark blond, it was hard to tell in the low lights of the bar.

“Hi there, miss. You looked like you could use some company,” he drawled with a lazy smile.

What was it about this guy, she couldn’t possibly know him? Could she? “You know, I was actually just going to go after I finished my beer.”

“Oh, come on, you’re out already! Just stick around for another, we could talk, get to know each other a little. I’m James.”

“Hi James, nice to meet you,” she responded reflexively.

“And your name is…?”

“Wren,” she regretted giving her name the second it left her mouth. She felt like she was getting very conflicting signals from this man: half of her trusted him implicitly, the other half was telling her to just run.

“Nice to meet you, too, Wren. So, you don’t look like a local, where you from?”

“Here and there,” at least that answer was both accurate and uninformative.

“That’s a real pretty name you got. ‘Wren’…that’s a kind of little bird, isn’t it?”

“Um, yeah. It’s a songbird.”

“We should get you up on the microphone, little bird! I bet you can sing like nobody’s business.”

“Look, I’m sorry, but I’m not single.” He seemed like a nice guy and all, she didn’t want to lead him on. She also didn’t want to continue this conversation. She threw back the rest of her beer so she could have an out.

“What kind of man would let a woman that looks like you out of his sight for even a minute?” he smiled a Cheshire cat grin, undeterred.

“I should really get going…” she stood and started to walk to the bar to return her glass and close out.

But the man had other ideas. He stood with her, grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her toward him.

She really didn’t want to have to use her powers on him. This place wasn’t packed, but she didn’t want to knock everyone out. She also didn’t want to have a dust-up, the last thing she needed was legal trouble. She looked the big man over, assessing him better now that he was standing. Fortunately, he was a very similar size and shape to Bucky and Steve, and she’d sparred with them enough times she thought she could take out the non-super version pretty easily if she had to.

Right as she was taking a deep breath to advise him to back away, she felt the presence of someone else standing behind her. “Wren, honey, let’s get going, let me take you home.” It was the flirty bartender.

Well, that was going to make things either a lot easier or a lot harder. But for now, it was a convenient excuse. “Thanks, that sounds like a good idea, babe!” she said to him, then went back to staring James down.

He released her wrist, “Well, I hope to see you around town, little bird.” With that, he stomped off and left the bar.

When the door shut behind him, she turned to the barkeep, “Thanks, you really didn’t need to do that.”

“Don’t pay it any mind, I don’t like guys who think they can treat women like that.”

“He didn’t skip out on a tab or anything, did he?”

“No, I don’t think he even ordered anything. He went straight for you.”

“Well that’s creepy. I should probably hang out for a bit so he doesn’t follow me.”

“I meant it when I said I can take you home. Or to your hotel, wherever you’re staying. Sharon there said she’d close, we’re not busy enough to need two people on the bar.”

“That’s very sweet of you, but…”

“Look, I heard that you have a boyfriend. I promise, I’m not a creep. And if it makes you feel any better, we can call ahead to wherever you’re staying, give them my information, so if you don’t make it in 15 minutes they can call the cops on me.”

“Wow, you are very thorough. Do you have to prove you’re not a creep often?”

“I’m a bartender. It’s generally assumed I’m a creep, so I’m used to it. The name’s Deke, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Deke. Okay, why not? I will warn you: I may not look like much, but I absolutely could have taken out that guy if I’d had to, and I could take you out, too.”

He looked sincere when he responded, “I have no doubt you could. Let’s get you out of here before that asshole comes back.”

She didn’t need to tell him that she had an app that wouldn’t just call the cops if something went wrong, it would alert the Avengers if she didn’t turn it off within a certain time period. But she quietly activated that, and then did as he suggested and called the B&B, leaving a message at reception. She truly wasn’t worried about this guy, it would be a lot of work if this was a setup to entrap her, and he didn’t seem to know who she was. There was a chance he was just an incredible actor, or that the guy who’d sat next to her was part of an elaborate plan, but she’d have to take her chances.

He led her out the back door to his car, parked in the alley, and asked where she was staying. When she gave the name and asked if he knew it, he gave a bark of laughter, “Yeah, you could say I know it. That’s my aunt’s place.”

“Oh, well, I guess then that’s either all the more reason to trust you, or this is an incredibly elaborate scheme if your family’s in on it.”

“I’m hopin’ the former. So…can I ask what brings you to town? We don’t get a lot of new faces venturing in this far off the highway.”

“Would it be sufficiently mysterious for me to say, ‘I’m looking for answers’ and leave it at that?”

“That _is_ very mysterious! But that’s fine, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

God love a respectful man. “I was adopted, trying to find out about my family.”

“Huh. Well, good luck with that, then!”

They rode for a little in awkward silence, but it was a very short drive. When he stopped the car, he leapt out to open the door for her, and it gave her a small pang, missing her boys. He walked her to the door, starting to reach to pull it open, but pausing and turning to her at the last moment. “You really have a boyfriend, or was that to put that asshole off?”

She raised her eyebrows a little, “Technically, I don’t have _a_ boyfriend,” a mischievous smile spread on her face as she added “I have two.” Then she simply backed up and gave him a little wave before turning and going through the doors. She saw the proprietress, who must be Deke’s aunt, at the front desk, and said that she made it safely, and that Deke was probably still out front if she wanted to say hi, and went back to her room. Deactivating the alert app, she texted Buck and Steve, and got ready for bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm...I wonder what that guy's deal is? Why did she feel like she was being watched?
> 
> I know this wasn't an action-packed chapter, but the next chapters will be pretty dang big, so get ready!


	39. Chapter 39

The next morning, she got up early enough to go for a run and shower before heading to the courthouse before they opened. She took her rental car this time instead of walking, and was at the door when they were unlocking it. She spent the entire morning going from office to office, filling out so many forms her hand was cramping from all the writing. She got a little closer, she found the actual copy of the birth certificate, and the name listed really was “Wren A. Gold”. That seemed like it had to be more than a coincidence: according to the Social Security Administration, “Wren” wasn’t even in the 1000 most common baby names in the country, even just looking at girls, for decades around her birth. She’d certainly never met another one. And looking at the official record…she had to sit with it for a moment. It was strange seeing potential evidence of her birth. Not that she thought she came into this world some other way, but everyone else had some story from their parents of how they came into this world. Even many of the foster kids she knew had some idea of the family they started with, very few had been in the system since birth without getting adopted when they were a fresh, new baby. She had to tamp down some of the feelings this brought about. As a kid, she always felt inadequate that nobody wanted to adopt her. What was so wrong about her that she scared people away as a newborn? She saw now that she was born small. Looking it up, she was around the 5th percentile. Was she sick? Had her mom been sick? Were drugs involved? She knew she wouldn’t get answers until she found her mom, or at least someone who knew her, but it didn’t stop her brain from thinking up more questions.

Finally, close to lunch time, she made it to a desk in the back of the basement with all the forms to try to locate the death records. There was a new woman behind the desk with a name tag that said “Kathy”. Wren didn’t recognize her from earlier efforts, but she looked kind, matronly even, and greeted her with a warm smile. After the trying morning, this was almost enough to make Wren burst into tears, but she just handed the paperwork over, and the woman put her readers on and looked at the forms.

After studying them for a while, she said “Well, little bird, I can get these typed up and get that request into the system, but it’s just about time for my lunch break.”

Wren could feel her face falling. She was so close, “Is there any…”

“But I don’t see the point in that, because I can tell you: it won’t find anything,” the woman looked at Wren’s stricken face with a kind smile before explaining, “Dearie, you won’t find a death record because Melissa Joan Gold ain’t dead. She lives out off the depot road. Why are you lookin’ for her, if you don’t mind me asking?”

Wren was shocked, it took her a moment to actually form words, “I think she might be my mom.”

“Oh, sweet child! Well here, I’m not really supposed to do this, but I can give you her address. I don’t have her phone number, otherwise I’d give you that, but I do know where she lives!”

Wren was speechless, sat there spluttering for a full minute, tears rising in her eyes. “I…that would…I can’t thank you enough, ma’am. That would mean the world to me!”

She collected the information, thanking the woman profusely the whole time. She also gave Kathy some contact information, just in case she couldn’t get ahold of anyone at the address, that she could maybe pass along to the woman who was maybe her mother.

As she walked out of the courthouse, she tried to collect herself. She didn’t really know how to feel. Telling herself her mom must be dead made it a little easier to fight off the insecurities: then it wasn’t really a rejection. But if her mom was still alive, there were infinite possibilities, and many of them could be painful. And she hadn’t anticipated getting to this point so quickly, and so…lacking other contact information. If she could have called, or emailed or something, that seemed less intimidating.

But before she could go charging off in her rental car, she needed to slow down for a bit. She texted Steve and Bucky, she knew they were on a short mission today so they might not be available for a call at that moment. Then she went off in search of lunch. The bar she’d been to the night before didn’t have food, but she’d seen signs that they were a coffee shop during the day, so she figured she’d get some caffeine, ask for lunch recommendations, and take a beat to collect her thoughts before heading out to the address she’d been given. She had put it into the map app on her phone, it wasn’t that long a drive, but it was in the middle of nowhere, and she had to prepare for the possibility that no one would be home, or that, even if they were home, they might not appreciate her just showing up.

When she walked towards the bar, as soon as she crossed the threshold she was greeted by Deke’s warm smile. “Well, you better watch out, or you’re going to be starting rumors,” he warned her.

“Oh really? What kind of rumors?” she asked with a quirked eyebrow.

“That you’re in town looking for a third boyfriend,” he grinned at her, giving her a look-over.

“Well, I was more looking for caffeine and some lunch suggestions,” she responded. This guy was cute, it made it hard not to flirt with him. She truly wasn’t looking for a third boyfriend, the two she had waiting for her were more than enough, but if it got her a nicer cup of coffee and some friendly conversation to distract her, it was worth it.

“I can accommodate you on both, what’s your poison?”

She gave him her order, and he listed off the lunch options that were nearby. She settled on a nearby diner that sounded fine, and he offered, “You know, if you want company, I can join you. Mike here can cover for me, I’m due a lunch break anyway and we’re slow right now.”

“I wasn’t kidding about the two boyfriends, you know. And they’re big, tough dudes.”

“I believe you. But why stop at two?”

“If you saw them, you’d see why that was already sufficiently selfish of me. They might not be the jealous types, that doesn’t mean I want to deal with more men in my life!” she gave him a cheeky grin.

“Okay, well, if you won’t let me put my application in to pinch-hit, then at least we can go to lunch as friends. You look like you could use a bit of a distraction.”

She quirked her head at him. She’d been trying to put the day’s drama aside, trying not to let it show, but this stranger was even able to pick up on it. She checked her phone, to see if she’d missed any calls from her boys; she hadn’t. “Okay, sure. Friends.” She’d just ordered a shot of espresso, so she finished it off easily as he took his apron off and spoke to his coworker, then let him guide her out of the bar.

They kept the conversation light over lunch. She did admit that she’d found some of the information she was looking for and might even be able to meet her mom that afternoon. She didn’t give any specifics, if this didn’t work out, she didn’t want to set off the town rumor mill any more than she doubtlessly already had. He nodded along and was as supportive as her vagueness would allow. He did also turn it into an invite to see a movie that night, if she either needed more distraction or if she just struck out and had nothing better to do. She shook her head with a little eye roll at his persistence but gave him a “we’ll see.”

When they were both finished, he walked her back to her car, and gave her his number, just in case she decided she wanted to catch that movie after all. She thanked him and stuffed the little piece of paper into her coat pocket. She certainly wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of putting it into her phone, but she didn’t need to be so rude as to throw it away in his face either. She doubted she’d be calling him, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to have a local contact number, just in case. After he left, she sat in her car to call Steve and Bucky. They didn’t answer, so she left them a message with her plan and where she was headed, and a promise to call them that evening at 8, maybe sooner depending on how things went. Their mission was near Denver, so the time zone math would work in her favor tonight, assuming they weren’t back in the air. She pulled up her map app, hands shaking a little as she put the car in reverse, and the was off to meet the woman who might have given birth to her.

The house was off a dirt road. There was nothing but fields and fences for some distance, she couldn’t even see any animals the fences might be keeping in, or any crops to keep people or creatures out of. She just had to add “what do you do out here” to the ever-growing list of questions she would ask if this was, in fact, her mom. The house was cute, a ranch style, didn’t look particularly old, nor was it brand-new. There was some kind of outbuilding around back, maybe a barn. Wren was trying to focus on every detail she could, either to imprint this moment in her memory or simply as an excuse to stall. But she knew she couldn’t stay in the car forever.

She got out, and stepped to the door, feeling like she was wearing cement shoes. But she made it. She rang the doorbell. And she waited, resisting the urge to sprint back to the car and drive away.

The door swung open, and Wren felt like her question was already answered. She was roughly the same height as Wren. Her build looked like it probably had once been similar to Wren’s. Her skin was darker than Wren’s, she wore glasses, and there were plenty other small differences she’d be able to spot given the time, but Wren still knew: this woman was her mother. Or some kind of relative, at the least. They just stared at each other for a moment, confusion written on the woman’s face.

Finally, in a small voice that barely sounded like her own, Wren managed “Are…are you Melissa Joan Gold?”

“Yes,” the woman choked out.

“Are you…did you give birth to a daughter on June 12, 1983?”

This time the woman couldn’t even speak, she just nodded.

“I…I’m Wren Gold. I think you might be my mother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAHHHH! She did it!
> 
> I know this chapter's a little short, but there's SO MUCH coming up in the next few weeks! Also, just to warn you all: we're nearing the end of the story. It's not 100% written yet, so I can't tell you how many chapters are left, but I just wanted to warn you that this story won't last forever. There will be another sex scene, though, don't you worry!


	40. Chapter 40

Before Wren could even blink, she was wrapped in a tearful hug. This woman…Melissa…her mother…she was sobbing, and Wren didn’t know what to do but hug her back. When she released her, Melissa took her hands, looking her over for a moment, before pulling her into the house. She started apologizing for everything, the words spilling out in a jumble: apologizing for giving her up, for not finding her, or reaching out, even for not having a tidy house, as if she could have anticipated her long-lost daughter dropping in out of nowhere.

She led Wren into a cozy kitchen, sitting her at a well-worn table. She took a deep breath before starting, “I…I never thought this moment would happen, as much as I’ve wanted it. Wren…god, you’re so beautiful! I want to know everything about you! But I’m sure you have questions, too.”

“Yeah…uh…gosh, I feel like I’ve been preparing for this moment my whole life and I still don’t know what to say. I guess…what happened? Why did you…” Wren’s voice faltered, suddenly worried about coming across as rude, or scaring her off.

“…give you up? It’s okay, I’m sure that must be what you think happened. It’s complicated. Here, let me make some tea, would you like that?”

“Oh, uh, sure,” Wren replied, but her mother was already bustling to get the kettle started.

When she came back to the table, waiting for it to boil, she resumed, “It’s…a complicated and painful story. I’ll explain everything, but I need you to know: I didn’t give you up willingly. You were taken from me.” Wren didn’t even have time to ingest that before her mother continued, “But, Wren, I have to know: do you have powers?”

Wren’s jaw hit the floor. If her mom was asking that, she must have powers of her own, or at least some knowledge about where they came from. “I…yes, I do,” she confessed. It was so strange admitting it plainly like that. After so many years in hiding, on the run, even these few months in the public eye hadn’t prepared her for this. “I…I’m actually one of the Avengers. They call me The Songbird.”

“Oh, honey, that’s better than I ever could have hoped for! I have some powers too, I didn’t know if you would inherit them, and I was so worried about what would happen if you did! Please, tell me all about them!”

“Well…they’re vocal powers. I can do things with my voice; different things depending on what I sing. Certain notes have certain effects. And sometimes I can sing songs that make people…suggestible, I guess, to certain emotions. I’ve been working with some scientists and engineers to strengthen my powers, and they’ve made some devices that make it so I can use my voice in other ways…”

“That’s wonderful you have such supportive friends!” The kettle started to boil, and she went to get the tea ready. When she brought the two mugs back to the table, she dove right back in, “I’d love to…if you’re okay with it, could you try the one where you make people suggestible on me? Without any of your wonderful gadgets. I just want to see my beautiful daughter’s natural talent. You don’t have to, if you don’t want to…”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it! Is there a certain emotion you’d like to feel right now?”

“Gosh, I’m already so happy I could burst! I don’t know, you decide, little bird!”

“Okay. It doesn’t force you to feel anything new, it just…intensifies things you might already be feeling.”

“This…this might be a strange request, but: can I touch you? When you sing? I’ll just put my fingers on your neck, I want to see if your power feels like mine.”

“I guess so,” Wren leaned forward, craning her neck a little, but not so much it would strain her voice. She started singing, she hadn’t even consciously thought of a song, but the right one came to her when she took a breath.

> It's been a long dark night
> 
> And I've been a waitin' for the morning
> 
> It's been a long hard fight
> 
> But I see a brand-new day a dawning
> 
> I've been looking for the sunshine
> 
> You know I ain't seen it in so long
> 
> But everything's gonna work out just fine
> 
> And everything's gonna be all right
> 
> That's been all wrong

She sang through the song, putting a few different emotions into it. She didn’t want vengeance on her mother, not exactly. But this seemed like it would double as the best way to convey all of the feelings she’d experienced. The basic emotions, like sadness, fear, surprise, joy; but also the more complex feelings, like rejection, insecurity, longing, searching. She wove them all into her song, and watched them mirrored in her mother’s face. After decades, she not only got to meet her mom, and try to understand, she got to make her understand, too.

When she finished, she felt the absence as her mother withdrew her fingers. There had been something else passing between them, something she couldn’t quite understand, but it made her feel bereft in its absence. Her mother nodded, wiping the tears from her cheeks, and taking a sip of her tea. Eventually, she gathered herself enough to continue, “Your gift is incredible, Wren, just incredible! And I can tell you’ve only just begun to make use of it. You have so much potential! Drink up, darling, don’t let the tea get cold.”

Wren took a long drink of her tea while her mother looked on expectantly. “Can you tell me about your powers? Are they the same as mine? And I met a man, he…”

“I still want to understand you and your powers a little better! Tell me, why is it you’re settling for being one of the Avengers?”

Wren was shocked. _Settling?_ How could she call being an Avenger _settling_? “I…I don’t understand. The Avengers are amazing, they’ve helped me grow my powers, they’ve been everything I could have hoped for. It’s not like there’s another group of super-powered humans running around saving the world. If there is, I’ve never heard of them.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean anything by it, darling! Drink up, the tea will help settle your nerves. I just meant…with powers like yours, you shouldn’t be in the background. You should be running the Avengers. You could take over countries, if not rule the world with that suggestion power alone!”

She took another long sip of the tea, then shook her head in confusion, “I don’t want to take over anything. I’m happy being a member of the Avengers. I love all of them, they’ve been like family to me. And I don’t want to rule anything, I just want to help people.” Was this what having a mother was normally like? Because she’d only been in it for a few minutes, and she was already _exhausted_.

“I’m sure you do, darling! But, just…what if you teamed up with one of your friends? Think of the amazing things you could accomplish!”

Wren was starting to feel a horrible headache coming in, it was making her vision blur a little. “Can…can we talk about something else? I’m already teamed up with my friends so we can do some good in the world. I don’t want to take over. Please, just tell me about what happened, why was I taken from you? Did you look for me? What are your powers? Do I have any siblings?” Whatever this headache was was coming in fast, she felt like her ears were ringing a little. She drank the last dregs of the tea.

“Oh, sweet little bird. You’re just so very trusting, even after everything you’ve been through. You just want to be loved, feel accepted. You shouldn’t have to limit yourself to something so mundane as acceptance! You’re capable of inspiring awe! Adoration! You shouldn’t even have to content yourself with ruling, when you could be a goddess!”

Wren was having trouble concentrating, but there was a change in her mother’s voice. It got deeper. And the Texan accent faded. “I don’t understand…what…”

“Oh, my darling sweet little bird. I think you do understand. And if you don’t, you soon will.”

Her last thought before everything went black was one of recognition. The voice had finally resolved into one she knew.

Loki.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh, you all knew something was coming...but did you think it was Loki? DUN DUN DUNNNN
> 
> Also, I've been writing [a new story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26091091/chapters/63463243), it's an RPF where Henry Cavill is a huge dork. It's only going to be 5 chapters, and the smut will start tomorrow, so you can check that out to tide you over!


	41. Chapter 41

She woke up with a jolt, and tried to force her brain to work as fast as possible through the haze. Loki. He’d pretended to be her mom. He’d drugged her. She looked around, and didn’t seem like she had been transported someplace else: it seemed likely she was in the bedroom of the ranch house she’d driven out to. Of course, with Loki, she couldn’t believe anything her eyes told her, it could all be illusions for all she knew. She looked at how the sun slanted in through the window, if that wasn’t part of the illusion she’d guessed she was out for a couple hours. She was tied to a bed. But she was still fully clothed in what she’d been wearing, and her legs were tied together at the knees and ankles, so she took some comfort that he probably hadn’t done anything too awful in her sleep, and didn’t have any immediate plans to rape her. Her hands were tied to the headboard, but she had enough slack that she had some freedom of movement.

He had taken her shoes off. And she couldn’t open her mouth. She tested her voice, and confirmed she couldn’t sing, so he must’ve worked some kind of spell on her. And, of course, Loki had thought to remove all her gadgets. The gears were already turning in her head, this wasn’t going to be something she could get out of easily. Didn’t mean it was impossible, she would just have to bide her time a little.

As she started to relax against her pillow, she heard footsteps on the stair, and then Loki popped his head in. He looked…a little different. His hair was shorter than she’d seen it before, although still longer than Steve’s or Bucky’s. He was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and she tried to think if she’d ever seen him in a tee when he wasn’t training at the compound. There was a little more color in his cheeks than she’d remembered him having. But that smile…it was still the same Loki.

“Well, hello little bird! How are you feeling, darling? I used Asgardian herbs to help you relax, but I was a little unsure how the dosage would work on a mortal. I’m glad to see you’re awake!”

She tried to comment, but the spell that kept her mouth shut prevailed, so after some mildly frustrated humming, she just shrugged at him.

“I’m terribly sorry, dear! Couldn’t have you using your powers on me before I was prepared.” He waved his hand at her, and she could tell her lips were no longer stuck together. “They won’t work now. Not on me, that is. And soon I’ll be happy to free you from the rest of your restraints, if you wish.” He gave her that cheeky grin of his.

She tested her voice with a quick sleep note and he was right: it didn’t work. So she attempted, “Loki…please. I know we have history, and I know you probably had a reason for all of this. But…do you know what happened to my mother? I came all the way out here…”

He looked pained. It was Loki, so she couldn’t be sure, but it seemed like genuine pity in his eyes. “I’m sorry, love. As a baby, you were found at the scene of a car wreck. Your mother did not survive. I’m terribly sorry for this ruse, but I needed a way…”

“My _mother_ , Loki. You could have been anyone…”

“If there had been any other way to get you to me, I would have taken it. And I tried…”

It clicked into place, “The man in the bar?”

The air around Loki shimmered, and then he was the man from the bar the night before. “James. I thought maybe you had a type…”

She realized now that he was a composite of Bucky and Steve. Everything was about halfway between the two men: hair color, eye color, height, build. And, of course, the name he’d given was a nice touch. “Did you think that would work, just being pushy?”

He grinned at her, “Actually, I had hoped not. No, I had hoped my little bird was stronger than that.”

“So, my mother. The man from the bar. I assume you were also the woman who sent me out here?”

“Yes, that was also me.”

“Who else?”

“No one else.”

“Loki, please, don’t…”

“I swear on my mother’s grave: I am done lying to you. We can’t move forward with lies.”

“Move forward?”

“Love, when I said you could take over the world, that was no exaggeration. And imagine what we could do together? Anything you want, Wren! The whole world would be yours!”

“Loki, I don’t want the whole world. I’m happy with my life the way it is.”

“Darling, that’s only because you haven’t let yourself dream! You and I have more in common than you realize. We’re both orphans. We’ve both lost so much. We’ve both had to hide our true strength. And I know if you give yourself a chance, you will see just how wonderful we could be together.”

“Loki, I don’t know what else to tell you. Please. This isn’t what I want. This is…”

He cut her off, “Love, just give me a chance. Let me show you what life could be like.”

“Will you let me go?”

“I will release you from the restraints, although you won’t be able to leave this house.”

“And what if you do everything to show me the life you think I want, and I’m still not interested? What then, Loki?”

A darkness flitted across his face, only for the briefest moment. “Well that won’t happen, so we need not discuss it.”

He had no intention of letting her leave, that much was clear to Wren. She didn’t think he wanted to kill her, not right now anyway. But if he didn’t start getting his way, there was no telling what he would do to her.

“Loki…could I have a glass of water, please? I have a bit of a headache.”

He took her hand in his, “Of course, my love! What else can I get you?”

“I’ll need to…use the facilities. Soon.”

“Say no more!” he flicked his fingers and all the ropes binding her disappeared.

She was a little surprised, but she managed to just smile at him gratefully as she rubbed her wrists, “Thank you, Loki.”

* * *

When she came to join him downstairs, he had remade it to look like a palace. A feast was laid out, and when she looked out the windows, gone was the dusty brown landscape. Instead there was a beautiful garden, complete with a picture-perfect pond with a pair of swans paddling along on the surface. She knew it was all an illusion, but it was a very pretty one.

Loki came up from behind her, “Darling! I can change anything you wish. What would you like?” He waved his hand and the scene changed. First to a sandy tropical beach. A snowy mountain range. The New York skyline. He handed her a bottle of water, “We can make the world what you wish it to be.”

“Thank you, Loki. It’s lovely, really,” she assured him, aiming for non-committal.

“Truly, Wren, whatever makes you happy. I can make it happen.”

“I know you can. I don’t lack faith in your abilities.”

“Then what’s wrong, darling?”

“I’m just tired. This has been quite the day.”

“Coffee? Tea? We have so much to discuss, love!”

“Oh, I’ll be fine. Can I ask…my gadgets? Are they safe?”

“Of course, love! They’re just in the bedroom. You may have them back, I just thought you might wish to enjoy your own powers for what they are, at least for the moment. You don’t need those things, you have it in you to do it on your own.”

“Oh, Loki, I can’t…”

“You only _think_ you can’t. I can train you, when you’re ready.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I’ve spent a lot of time studying you, darling. Thor does not have much understanding of or appreciation for Midgard technology, but that means it is frequently available for my access. I was able to access Stark’s information on you. And as you slept, I finally got a chance to explore your magic. You are more powerful than you know, you just need more time for unrestrained practice.”

“I can’t really have unrestrained practice, Loki. Not without hurting people.”

“Well that would be one restraint we need to rid you of. I can bring test subjects to us that you can practice on, I’m sure…”

“No,” she cut him off, “Not a chance, Loki. Please, I don’t want to hurt anyone.” She decided to take a gamble, “And besides, you don’t want others around, do you?”

He quirked an eyebrow at her, “Why, pet! I’m thrilled to hear you don’t want others around! We can delay that somewhat. But for you to properly explore your powers, you will need test subjects. This can be an issue for another day, however. For today…what would you like to do?”

She considered for a moment. She needed to gain his trust, if she was going to get out of here, she’d need him to let his guard down. Turning to fully face him, she looked down at her feet for a moment before meeting his eyes, “I don’t know, what would you like to do, Loki?”

His smile showed he had latched on how she’d imagined, and he stepped in closer. “Well, love, that entirely depends. Are you asking because you are indifferent, or out of deference?”

Lowering her eyes to the floor again, she didn’t say anything, letting him read into it.

“Well, little bird, if what you want is to be told what to do…”

She bit her lip a little, hoping if she laid it on thick enough Asgardian men could be just as distractible as earth men. “Before that…did you get my things from the place I was staying?”

“No, love, but anything you want I can create for you here. Did you have a different dress code in mind?” He waved his hand and she was in a gown, much like the one from when they’d danced together. Another wave and she was in a short cocktail dress, not terribly different from the one she’d worn at the club with Bucky. She tried not to let the pain she felt thinking of that show on her face. Then he twirled his fingers and she was in negligee. Her arms twitched with the desire to cover herself, but she forced herself not to. Loki noticed, however. “Little bird, there’s no reason to be ashamed of your desires,” he stepped close to her, lightly tracing a finger up her arm.

“I just had something special in my bag. But if that’s not what you want…”

“Just tell me what it is, and I can replicate it for you.”

“It…it wouldn’t be the same. And it wouldn’t be a surprise…”

“You want to surprise me? My little dove, I don’t know what you can do that would…” she gave him the most devastating look she knew how to give. Usually it was reserved for Bucky when he was in a very specific mood, and was a guarantee that she would wake up the next morning with marks on her skin, a hard time walking, and a huge smile on her face. But Loki got the idea just as clearly. “Of course, it couldn’t hurt to try to surprise me. But I can’t let you go run an errand, my darling.”

“No, of course not. But the lady who owns the place I’m sure would be happy to help, and could gather my things. Then you could pick them up, or we could arrange for them to deliver it.”

“That sounds like an excellent plan! You can use this phone,” he gestured to a landline that she hoped was indeed part of the actual house, and not the illusion. “Of course, I’ll need to verify who you’re calling.”

“Of course! But…the surprise isn’t packed away, so I’ll need to describe it to them to make sure they get the right thing. And I don’t want to ruin the surprise…”

“Say no more. Once I’m confident in who you’ve called, I will make myself scarce.” He stood a couple steps away.

“I…I’ll need my clothes back. I had the phone number written on a piece of paper in the pocket.”

He waved his hands and she was back in her outfit from earlier. Okay, this was a start. She pulled out the scrap of paper and dialed, and didn’t let the voice on the phone Get any further than “This is…” before cutting them off with a “Hiiiii! This is Wren Gold, from room 5?” she looked at Loki, who nodded before turning and walking across the sitting room over to a set of windows.

She held the phone as tightly to her ear as she could, hoping to reduce the sound that got out, as she had no idea how good Loki’s hearing was. She continued loudly, “There was something I really needed your help with.”

“Wren?” Deke asked, confused, “Did you mean to dial the BnB? Are you okay?”

She continued as if she was having a perfectly pleasant conversation with a front desk person, “No, no not at all! There was just something I needed.”

“Are you in some kind of trouble and you can’t talk about it?” he asked, quietly and urgently.

“Exactly! Silly me, getting myself into all kinds of mischief! There was just something I needed and I wondered if you would be a dear,” she was keeping the chipper tone, and speaking loudly. Then her voice suddenly dropped sotto voce, after a quick look to confirm that Loki was still far enough away. It could all be an illusion, but so could the phone call at all, so it was worth a chance. “Deke, I’m in a bind and I might need a quick escape. I’m going to give you an address, if you could give me a few minutes and then head out here, I would be in your debt.”

“Of course, Wren. Should I call the police?”

“No!” she tried to keep to a whisper. “Don’t even approach the house yourself. Stay on the street. I’m with an incredibly dangerous person, but I can take care of him myself. Having to protect you too would only complicate things. Stay at a safe distance, I’ll come to you.”

“Okay, if you say so. But it just sounds like I should call the…”

“If you do, they will be killed. Please trust me on this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late posting this week! It's been a pretty wild week for me personally, so thanks for your patience.
> 
> Oooooh, how's Wren gonna get out of this one?


	42. Chapter 42

She could hear Deke huff a frustrated sigh. She heard that noise a lot from men. “Fine. How much time do you need?”

“I think about 20 minutes.” She then raised her voice to say, “Uh-huh, seems like you found it! Perfect! You have the best customer service; I’m going to leave you such a good review!” and then she rattled off the address and said goodbye. Loki either didn’t notice she had hung up or was pretending he hadn’t noticed, so she walked over to stand next to him at the window. She couldn’t bring herself so far as to touch him, but she stood close. “They found it, and said they could deliver it.”

“Well, is there anything you wanted to do as we wait…” he reached a hand up to trace the backs of his knuckles down her cheek.

“I’m…a little hungry, actually.”

“Of course, darling. You were out for quite some time, I imagine you’re famished!”

“What time is it? It looks sunny outside, but…”

“It’s about half past 8.”

“That would explain why I’m hungry! Do you have real food?”

“We can have whatever you want…”

“But I don’t want an illusion. I want the real thing, dear,” she forced herself to add the term of endearment, even if the sound fell flat on her ears.

“You will get sufficient nutrition, but the taste will be beyond your wildest dreams!”

She put her hand on his, “Please, Loki. I know how powerful you are. I have complete faith in your abilities. But if I’m to trust you, I need a little reality. And if we’re going to work as a team, I need to trust you.” She gave his hand a little squeeze, hoping that would be enough emphasis.

He looked down at her, considering her for a moment. She could tell he was weighing what she’d said, trying to decide if he believed her or not. This was her make-or-break moment. She touched his face, and his eyes closed as he leaned into her touch. Then he kissed her, and she put every ounce of herself into making it as real as possible. She couldn’t convince herself she was actually kissing Steve or Bucky, but she could do her best.

When he pulled back, he looked…happy. Satisfied, even. He smiled at her, and she did her best shy smile for him. And he replied “Well, let’s see what we can find in the cupboards, shall we?”

“That sounds excellent. So…is the house actually real? Has the whole afternoon been an illusion?”

“The house is real. I believe the owners are on vacation.”

“Does it take much to maintain these illusions? I don’t want to tire you.”

He turned back to smile at her as they walked to the kitchen, “Your concern is touching, pet. Really. But it’s no great effort to maintain.”

“When the woman from the bed and breakfast comes with my surprise, what will she see?”

“She will see whatever I want her to see.”

“If she drove up right now, what would she see? Would she just see the same house I saw, or would she see the gardens I can see?” She could see a twinge of annoyance pass across his face, so she added, “I’m not trying to be difficult, I just want to understand, dear.”

He smiled indulgently down at her, as if she were a child, “She would see the same house you saw. Right now, my focus is on you.”

That was good to know. So the house itself was real, and the surroundings were real: she knew what she had to work with. “Thank you for telling me, Loki, it’s very helpful! So…what are your favorite foods?”

He looked at her, surprised at either the change of subject or the nature of the question, and then kissed her quickly. “You are a wonder, my dear!”

They chatted while they looked through the kitchen. Wren didn’t want to ask what had happened to the owners of the house, but she hoped they were just out of town on vacation. There weren’t many perishables in the fridge, so it wasn’t impossible. Wren put a kettle on for tea, and he pulled out some foods from the pantry. “Loki, may I please have the things Tony made for me? It might help…”

“No.” He cut her off and looked like he wasn’t going to explain. But he thought about what she had said about trust, and said, “If we work on your training, you don’t need them. And I do not wish you to be reliant on them. I would wager you could move objects with your voice alone. And shaping would just take practice.”

“I believe you, Loki. I’m just worried.” She tried to keep a straight face, but she heard a noise come from outside. Loki may have taken all the gadgets he could find on her, but Tony had improved her hearing aid, and it was small enough Loki couldn’t have seen it, much less removed it. “I’m still so tired. I’m going to splash some water on my face and freshen up a bit before we eat, if you don’t mind?”

“Of course, love. I’ll finish preparing our meal, and then we’ll discuss our future.”

She tried to walk casually, but it was difficult. There was a powder room near the front door, she moved like that was where she was going. She even opened and shut the bathroom door. But then she tiptoed as quietly as possible to the front door, and tried to open it. It was locked, of course, and she tried to unlock it but didn’t seem to be able to. She knew it wouldn’t be so easy, but it was worth a shot. Well, no paths forward from here were going to be quiet, and they won’t be easy, but she wasn’t out of options yet.

Glancing briefly over her shoulder to check if Loki had caught on yet, she crouched down and put her lips as close to the lock as she could get. It was magic holding the lock, maybe magic could undo it. She sang, as softly as possible, looking for the right note to resonate with the metal. When she found it, she tried putting a command into it, somewhat like when she would put a feeling into a song. But this time it was just a kind of mental push.

She heard a click, and was ready to jump for joy, when she heard a slow clap coming from behind her.

“Well done, little bird! You see? You just had to have the right motivation! Already able to pick a lock with your powers, I’m very impressed indeed! What shall we try next?”

“Loki, I’m not going to do this. I’m not staying with you. You can let me go, and you’ll have plenty of time to get away. I don’t want to fight you.”

“You don’t need to fight me, my love. Just stay. Simple as that.”

“You know I won’t, Loki. You give me no choice.”

He opened his mouth to start to argue, or monologue, or chide her, or soothe her. She didn’t care. She summoned up the full force of her power, visualized what she wanted to do with it, planted her feet, and screamed.

Just like on the hilltop, she put everything into. All of her rage, her fear, her frustration. But this time, she put her strength into it. Her confidence. Her love, her compassion, every part of her went into it, shaping the power. Loki slammed not into a wall but _through_ it. She could feel his magic fighting against hers, redirecting from his illusions to try to push back. But she pushed _harder_. The furniture and baubles in the house had already been flung away, and now the walls were starting to disintegrate.

Suddenly she felt Loki stop pushing. She didn’t know if he was dead, or unconscious, or if he’d just given up. Giving her power one last push, she stopped. The house was crumbling around her, and she didn’t know if she could protect herself if it collapsed. She turned, opened the door, and walked out.

She went down the driveway, not turning at the crashing sounds behind her. She saw the Quinjet had landed in an open field across the street, and Deke’s car parked in the road. The three men were sprinting at her, but she felt a strange sense of calm. Even when she heard the propane tank behind the house start to fail, she didn’t flinch when it exploded.

Bucky and Steve got to her at almost exactly the same moment, wrapping her in their arms and covering her with kisses in between a steady stream of words that tumbled from their mouths. Concern, declarations of love, relief, confusion, anger at whatever had happened, explanations of how they got there. Apparently, the mission in Colorado had been a bust, but they decided to swing down to get Wren before heading back to the compound. When she hadn’t tried to get in touch, or call at 8 like she’d promised, they got worried and tracked her phone, and flew straight to her.

Finally she give each of them a big kiss to calm them a little, and explained, “I’m fine. It was Loki. He lured me out here, pretended that he was my mother. He’s…somewhere in all that.”

Bucky said in a low, dangerous tone, “And Loki didn’t…”

She shook her head happily, “He didn’t get a chance.”

Steve went into tactician-mode, and started discussing with Bucky how they could find Loki. The two super soldiers kept in constant contact with Wren, Bucky’s arm around her waist and Steve’s around her shoulders, but her attention drifted away from their conversation. “Deke! Hey, sorry about calling you out here like that, I hope you didn’t have to miss any more work because of me!”

He was standing awkwardly about 10 feet away, but took a few steps closer, “Oh, I uh…I take it these are your two boyfriends?”

She laughed and nodded, “See? I told you I have my hands full!”

* * *

Before the Quinjet even landed at the compound, Steve had arranged for Loki to be imprisoned on a planet on the other end of the galaxy. Bucky had thoroughly checked to make sure she wasn’t hurt. And, of course, she’d explained to them what had happened. For their part, they were far out of normal cell service for most of their mission, and since they didn’t know she was in danger, it wasn’t until the evening when they got back in range and she missed the 8pm call she’d promised that they got worried. They knew where she was headed, so they went straight there.

They were pretty confused to see a normal-looking house, but thought maybe they’d been wrong, and it was just as simple as her having gotten distracted talking to her newly-found mother. A random guy sitting on the street outside, looking nervous, was also strange. But no sooner had they landed when something like a sonic boom passed over the Quinjet, and they off running toward danger before the house started to blow apart.

And now that they were home, they had hardly landed before Bucky hucked her over his shoulder and was carrying her down the ramp, with Steve following almost immediately afterwards. She laughed, letting them toss her around. She’d bristled a little at their concern, especially Steve’s, worried that they had underestimated her. But soon it was clear that they’d just been worried in a reasonable way, and they were ultimately proud of her. They hadn’t run in to rescue her, they’d run in to be backup.

They wanted to celebrate her victory. They wanted to distract her from her failure to find her mother. They just wanted to be with her. So straight up to her room they went. Bucky tossed her on the bed, she laughed as she bounced, but immediately quieted at the look on Steve’s face.

“What’s so funny there, soldier?” he asked in a dangerous tone.

“I…uh…” she stumbled, not able to snap herself into the right mindset in time.

“And you didn’t address me correctly, your punishments are adding up here…”

“I’m sorry, sir!” she bit her lip to keep herself from smiling. It was too fun, but she also knew what punishment he would mete out if she wasn’t careful.

“That’s better. Not good enough to avoid the punishment you’ve already earned, but better. Buck? What do you think?”

“Well, she’s been real good today. And she’s had a pretty long day. She should probably just lay back and take whatever reward or punishment she’s earned.”

“True. How ‘bout you start on the reward, and I’ll start on the punishment?” Steve offered.

“You read my mind!” Bucky agreed. Before she knew it, she was being swiftly and thoroughly manhandled, and shortly she was naked and lying on her stomach in the middle of the bed. She heard them move around for a minute, but she tried to relax.

She hissed when the molten wax hit the bare skin of her back. It was a massage oil candle, but still: it was hot, and she wasn’t expecting it. She didn’t think that was the punishment, though. Bucky’s flesh hand rubbed it in, while the metal provided cold pressure on other parts of her skin. The hot and cold sensation was heavenly, soothing her aches and troubles away. It vaguely occurred to her that the punishment was coming as well, but she just couldn’t bring herself to care under Bucky’s deft hands.

Steve roughly spread her legs, and after a moment of nothing, she could feel his hands move up her thighs. He massaged her lips, torturously slowly. Her hips shifted unconsciously, trying to meet his fingers, but that earned her a swift slap on the ass, stinging her cheek. But she didn’t even have time to react before his fingers were right back to work. She kept herself as still as possible, but she understood Steve’s punishment now. He was going to tease and torture her as long as he could, not letting her come, and then both him and Bucky would pull every orgasm out of her they possibly could.

And she was in heaven.

THE END

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...that's it! The end of Little Bird! Thank you all so much for sticking with this story, every comment and kudo has meant the absolute world to me!
> 
> Special thanks to [wermadashatters18](https://archiveofourown.org/users/wermadashatters18/pseuds/wermadashatters18) for the support and consultations, go read her stuff!
> 
> I'm definitely not done writing in general, so if you want to see more of what I write, you can subscribe to me as an author from [my profile](https://archiveofourown.org/users/curiouserncuriouser/profile). Thanks again, much love to you all!


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